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1  .  -A^ 


THROUGH  BOLSHEVIK  RUSSIA 


THROUGH 
BOLSHEVIK  RUSSIA 


fct"ktl       BY 
MRS.   PHILIP  SNOWDEN 


GASSELL  AND  COMPANY,   LTD 

London,  New  York,  Toronto  and  Melbourne 

1920 


CONTENTS 


Introduction  . 

CHAPTER 

i.    A  Starving  People  . 

2.  Making  Our  Plans  . 

3.  Ghosts    .... 
Investigation  or  Propaganda  ? 
The  Communists 
The  Artistic  Life  of  Russia 
The  Military  Power  of  Russia 

8.  Education  and  Religion  . 

9.  Off  to  Moscow 

10.  An  Interview  with  Lenin 

1 1 .  Talks  with  Communists  and  Others 

12.  The  Dictatorship  of  the  Communists 

13.  The  Suppression  of  Liberty 

14.  Down  the  Volga      .... 

15.  The  Future  of  Russia 


7 
13 

23 
33 
45 
58 
70 
81 

93 

105 

"5 
128 
140 

154 
164 

178 


INTRODUCTION 

I  HAVE  written  these  impressions  of  Bolshevik 
Russia  with  the  object  of  promoting  peace 
with  that  great  country,  by  adding  the  evidence 
to  that  already  given  in  numerous  articles  and 
books  of  one  more  eye-witness  of  the  terrible 
sufferings  of  the  Russian  people. 

I  paid  a  six  weeks'  visit  to  Russia  as  a  member 
of  the  Delegation  chosen  by  the  Executive  Com- 
mittee of  the  Labour  party  and  of  the  Trades 
Union  Congress,  in  fulfilment  of  a  resolution 
passed  by  a  special  Trade  Union  Congress  held 
on  December  ioth,  1919,  which  demanded  of  the 
British  Government  "  the  right  to  an  independent 
and  impartial  enquiry  into  the  industrial,  econo- 
mic and  political  conditions  of  Russia." 

So  much  about  Russia  that  was  contradictory 
had  appeared  in  the  newspaper  press,  with  the 
balance  of  statement  on  the  side  of  evil  report, 
that  it  was  increasingly  felt  by  the  organised 
workers  of  Great  Britain  the  truth  must  at  all 
costs  be  discovered,  if  that  were  possible,  by 
investigators  selected  by  themselves. 

In  addition,  it  was  thought  right  and  wise  to 

7 


8  Introduction 

discover  if  there  existed  anything  in  the  behaviour 
of  the  Russian  Government  and  people  so  menac- 
ing to  ourselves  as  to  warrant  the  attacks  upon 
Russia  of  foreign  Governments,  including  our 
own.  We  did  not  believe  that  any  possible 
conduct  of  the  Government  of  Russia  could 
justify  the  supply  of  British  men,  arms  and  money 
to  Russia's  enemies  ;  and  we  have  returned 
unanimously  confirmed  in  that  judgment,  con- 
vinced that  Russian  internal  affairs  are  her  own 
business  and  not  ours. 

The  Delegation  left  Newcastle  on  April  27th, 
and  travelled  by  Christiania,  Stockholm  and 
Reval.    We  returned  to  England  on  June  30th. 

Wherever  we  went  we  discovered  the  greatest 
interest  in  our  mission.  We  came  in  contact 
with  representatives  of  the  Socialist  and  Labour 
movement  in  all  the  towns  through  which  we 
passed.  In  Christiania  we  found  that  the  Labour 
party  had  so  far  expressed  its  approval  of  the 
doings  in  Moscow  as  to  have  applied  for  member- 
ship of  the  Third  International,  that  great  symbol 
of  Communism,  and  the  international  organ 
through  which  the  Communists  propose  to  work 
for  world-revolution. 

In  applying  for  this  membership,  the  Nor- 
wegian party  made  two  important  reservations  : 
It  wished  to  leave  its  members  free  on  the  point 
of  armed  revolution,  and  it  insisted  on  equality 


Introduction  9 

of  voting  power  for  peasant  and  artisan.  No 
reply  had  been  received  from  Moscow  at  the 
time  of  our  visit.  I  afterwards  discovered  in 
Moscow  a  sternly  unrelenting  attitude  on  the 
question  of  revolution  by  violence. 

In  Stockholm  the  great  bulk  of  the  Labour 
movement  is  against  Bolshevism,  although  a 
small  section  approves  it.  We  behaved  with 
strict  impartiality  to  both  kinds,  and  received 
and  gave  hospitality  indiscriminately. 

The  same  story  was  repeated  at  Reval.  And 
in  common  fairness  to  the  Bolsheviki  it  must  be 
admitted  that  they  have  a  grievance  against  the 
Moderates  of  Reval  as  great  as  any  grievance  the 
Moderates  may  have  against  them.  They  appear 
to  attack  each  other  with  equal  ferocity. 

I  have  not  attempted  in  these  pages  to  argue 
right  down  to  the  last  syllable  any  one  of  the 
great  questions  which  are  pivotal  to  modern 
political  controversies.  Other  writers  have  done 
that,  or  will  do  it.  Russian  Communist  litera- 
ture circulates  abundantly  in  this  country  for 
all  those  whose  interest  in  the  Russian  experi- 
ment lies  deep.  I  have  sought  only  to  give  a 
series  of  pen-pictures  of  Russian  life  under  the 
Bolsheviki,  and  to  state  interesting  facts  about 
that  small  piece  of  mighty  Russia  which  it  was 
my  great  privilege  to  see.  In  choosing  to  do 
this  I  shall  have  satisfied  neither  of  the  two  sorts 


io  Introduction 

of  extremist,  who  will,  without  doubt,  quote  my 
sentences  in  defence  of  the  Red  and  the  White. 

A  friend  said  to  me  in  discussing  the  question 
that  there  was  an  explosive  quality  in  the  word 
Bolshevism  which  caused  it  to  be  popular  with 
those  who  wished  to  destroy  some  hated  thing. 
Such  a  word  as  aneurism  could  not  be  employed 
with  one-tenth  of  the  effect ;  but  Bolshevism  ! 
The  word  is  a  veritable  bomb  when  exploded  in 
the  ears  of  the  timid  and  conventional. 

The  simple  fact  of  the  matter  is,  that  in  regard 
to  Bolshevism,  as  in  other  matters,  the  truth  lies 
between  the  two  extremes  of  statement.  What  is 
being  said  and  done  in  Russia  is  neither  perfectly 
good  nor  wholly  bad.  The  same  with  the  men 
and  women  themselves.  They  are  creatures  very 
much  like  ourselves,  who  are  called  upon  to  deal 
with  a  situation  which  is  extremely  difficult,  and 
who  are  dealing  with  it  in  the  way  which  to  them 
seems  best.  They  have  made  mistakes,  some  of 
these  very  big  mistakes.  But  Lenin  and  some  of 
the  others  have  had  the  courage  to  admit  this- 
There  is  abundant  hope  for  a  country  whose 
rulers  know  when  they  are  mistaken  and  are  will- 
ing to  adapt  themselves  and  to  try  again.  If  this 
sensible  type  of  governor  has  less  power  than  the 
other  at  the  moment,  it  will  not  always  be  so. 
Much  depends  upon  the  conduct  of  the  outer 
world. 


Introduction  1 1 

If  Russia  be  speedily  restored  to  the  family  of 
nations  and  real  intercourse  with  her  be  again 
established,  the  result  will  be,  in  all  human 
probability,  a  surprising  approximation  of  Russian 
methods  to  those  of  the  rest  of  Europe.  Let  us 
hope  it  may  also  mean  a  quicker  stride  of  European 
democracies  outside  Russia  in  the  path  of  social 
progress  and  economic  salvation  along  which 
Russia  has  attempted,  perhaps  too  rapidly  for 
success,  to  advance. 

For  myself,  the  result  of  our  investigations  is 
summed  up  in  this  :  I  am  not  hostile  to  the 
Russian  Revolution  which  the  tyrannous  regime 
of  the  Czars  made  necessary  and  inevitable  ; 
but  I  am  utterly  opposed  to  the  coup  d'dtat  of  the 
Bolsheviki,  as  I  should  be  to  the  seizing  of  power 
by  any  small  minority  of  the  people  ;  for  out  of 
this  action  has  sprung  a  large  part  of  the  misery 
the  unhappy  people  of  Russia  endure. 


THROUGH 
BOLSHEVIK    RUSSIA 

CHAPTER  I 
A  Starving  People 

IN  every  country  in  the  world  oceans  of  elo- 
quence and  torrents  of  passion  are  being 
poured  out  in  the  attempt  to  prove  that  Bolshevist 
Russia  is  a  heaven  or  a  hell.  The  friendships  of  a 
lifetime  are  being  broken  in  fruitless  efforts  to 
prove  either  the  faultlessness  or  the  folly  of  the 
theory  of  Communism.  The  doctrines  of  Karl 
Marx  and  the  philosophy  of  Bakounin  are  the 
twin  rocks  upon  which  the  Labour  movement  in 
every  land  threatens  to  split.  Without  in  the 
remotest  degree  intending  or  desiring  it,  Lenin 
has  drawn  to  his  head  a  halo  of  some  magnificence, 
and  an  odour  of  sanctity,  notwithstanding  the 
inscription  upon  its  walls,  envelops  that  part  of 
the  Kremlin  where  the  little,  great  man  sits  and 
issues  his  decrees. 
All  this  discussion  of  the  attempt  of  a  handful 

13 


i4         Through  Bolshevik  Russia 

of  sincere  and  brilliant  men  and  women  to  build 
upon  the  ruins  of  war,  famine  and  pestilence  a 
new  and  better  social  system  in  one  gigantic 
effort  is  inevitable  ;  and  in  common  fairness  it 
must  be  said  that  the  experiment  in  Russia  might 
have  been  of  the  greatest  possible  value  to  the  rest 
of  the  world  had  its  purity  not  been  sullied  by 
civil  wars  and  unpardonable  alien  aggression. 
As  it  is,  much  may  be  learnt  from  the  mistakes 
which  the  Bolsheviki  have  made  and  which  they 
themselves  admit.  It  is  not  the  frank  critic  of 
Bolshevism  who  is  doing  harm  to  the  Bolshevik 
cause.  It  is  those  supporters  of  Lenin  in  this, 
and  other  countries,  who  maintain  that  no  com- 
promise with  the  old  has  been  made  by  the  new 
in  Russia,  and  who,  if  they  could  be  made  to 
admit  that  their  Russian  comrades  had  modified 
their  decrees  to  meet  the  necessities  of  the  hour, 
would  regard  this  conduct  as  traitorous,  and 
would  denounce  with  equal  extravagance  of 
language  the  men  they  had  before  incontinently 
adored. 

But  through  all  the  noise  of  argument  and  heat 
of  propaganda  about  the  dictatorship  of  the 
proletariat,  the  revolution  by  violence  and  the 
programme  of  the  Third  International,  comes  the 
low  wailing  of  the  suffering  and  the  dying,  an 
appeal  for  help  to  the  pitying  heart  of  mankind 
which  should  take  precedence  of  the  claim  on  the 


A  Starving  People  15 

world's  attention  of  all  political  and  economic 
theories,  however  promising  those  may  be. 

For  this  reason  the  members  of  the  British 
Labour  Delegation  took  speedy  and  unanimous 
action  towards  bringing  to  an  end  the  war  between 
Russia  and  Poland,  and  with  equal  unanimity 
protested  to  their  own  Government  against  the 
blockade,  which  is  supposed  to  be  abolished  in 
theory  but  which  is  as  effective  in  practice  as 
ever.  The  cruel  effects  of  the  blockade  upon 
Russia's  hapless  people  became  obvious  through 
the  evidence  of  our  own  eyes  in  the  first  twenty- 
four  hours  of  our  investigation.  So  unmistakable 
was  that  evidence  that  a  telegram  was  despatched 
to  Great  Britain,  urging  the  folly  of  helping  the 
war  and  maintaining  in  effect  the  blockade,  and 
requesting  that  the  British  people  might  no 
longer  continue  to  be  implicated  in  either. 

The  number  of  Russian  people  is  variously 
estimated  at  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  to  one 
hundred  and  eighty  millions.  In  a  country  where 
the  fortunes  of  war  add  twenty  millions  of  in- 
habitants to  the  country's  population  in  one 
lucky  day  or  take  fifty  millions  away  as  the  result 
of  a  disastrous  encounter  with  the  enemy,  this 
statistical  looseness  has  a  reasonable  explanation. 

But  to  take  the  lower  number,  one  hundred 
and  twenty-five  millions.  Leaving  out  of  account 
the  army,  which  is  very  well  fed,  and  the  majority 


16         Through  Bolshevik  Russia 

of  the  children,  who  undoubtedly  receive  special 
care  and  attention,  most  of  the  people  are  either 
terribly  ill-clad  or  hungry,  probably  both.  Most 
of  them  are  suffering  from  dirt  and  disease  ; 
many  of  them  are  actually  ill  or  dying.  Millions 
have  already  died.  Many  millions  more  are  fore- 
doomed to  death  from  cold  this  coming  winter 
unless  help  of  the  right  kind  and  in  sufficient 
quantities  comes  speedily.  Of  what  immediate 
concern  to  these  unfortunate  masses  of  unhappy 
people  is  the  materialist  conception  of  history,  the 
proletarian  dictatorship,  or  even  the  Third  Inter- 
national ?  Eighty-five  per  cent  of  the  population 
is  composed  of  peasants,  most  of  whom  I  am 
convinced  never  heard  of  such  things.  To  these, 
Lenin  is  no  more  than  a  name,  a  devil  to  the  rich 
peasant,  a  name  with  which  to  conjure  out  of 
both  rich  and  poor  peasant  the  stocks  of  food  they 
are  believed  to  be  hiding.  Of  such  a  sort  was  the 
late  Czar  to  these  poor,  ignorant  folk.  But  the 
old  Czar  was  their  "  little  father  "  and  crept  closer 
and  more  warmly  to  their  imagination  than  the 
new  ruler. 

Poor,  unhappy,  lovable  people  of  Russia  ! 
The  hardening,  educating,  organising  process 
which  is  going  on  in  your  midst  may  one  day 
prove  a  boon  to  you,  though  it  adds  unspeakably 
to  your  present  misery.  The  discipline  of  the 
West,  if  taken  with  its  civilisation,  may  add  to 


A  Starving  People  17 

the  fullness  of  your  future  life.  But  what  you 
want  at  the  moment  is  very  much  less  and  very 
much  simpler  than  the  ardent  theorists  have 
conceived  you  need,  and  that  you  ought  to  want 
and  must  be  made  to  have. 

The  people  of  Russia  want  peace  and  bread, 
peace  that  will  last  and  bread  that  they  can  eat. 
I  am  convinced  without  the  shadow  of  a  doubt, 
that  they  are  everywhere  sick  to  the  very  soul  of 
bloodshed.  They  dislike  even  the  talk  about  war 
and  revolutions.  They  sing  "  The  Internationale  " 
whenever  the  orchestra  strikes  up,  but  it  is  with 
the  mechanical  tones  of  a  musical-box  or  a  street- 
organ.  They  long  for  rest  and  quiet.  They  want 
to  marry  and  have  children  and  be  able  to  feed 
and  house  them  properly.  The  peasants  want  to 
till  their  farms  undisturbed,  and  in  the  quiet 
evenings  to  sing  their  quaint  and  mournful  songs 
to  one  another  or  in  happy  chorus  in  the  village 
club.  The  town  workers  want  to  do  their  day's 
work  in  the  factory  or  the  shop  and  to  spend  glad , 
talkative  hours  in  the  cafes  as  in  those  days  before 
the  misery  of  war  came  upon  them. 

Petrograd  has  all  the  appearance  of  a  dying 
city.  Before  the  war  it  was  reputed  to  have  a 
population  of  two  and  a  half  millions  ;  now  it 
numbers  between  eight  and  nine  hundred  thou- 
sand souls.  Where  have  all  these  people  gone  ? 
I  asked  a  Communist  the  question. 


18         Through  Bolshevik  Russia 

A  relatively  tiny  number  of  the  rich  are  in 
exile.  Many  have  died  in  the  war.  Some  have 
fled  to  the  country,  where  living  is  more  abundant. 
But  hundreds  of  thousands  have  died  of  hunger 
and  disease.  Besides  the  lack  of  food  there  is  an 
almost  entire  lack  of  medicines,  anaesthetics,  linen 
for  bandages,  disinfectants  and  soap.  These 
things  have  been  kept  out  by  the  blockade. 
Disease  has  been  epidemic  and  carried  off  hosts 
of  people  in  face  of  the  heroic  but  helpless  doctors 
and  nurses,  very  many  of  whom  gave  their  own 
lives  in  a  noble  attempt  to  succour  and  save.  A 
striking  feature  in  Petrograd  was  the  enormous 
number  of  short-haired  girls  and  women. 

11  Is  this  a  Russian  custom  ?  "  I  asked.  "  Not 
more  than  in  any  other  country,"  was  the  reply. 
"  In  all  probability  all  these  women  and  girls 
have  had  typhus  quite  recently  and  lost  their 
hair  through  it." 

Those  who  have  never  seen  the  hunger-look 
in  human  eyes  cannot  even  faintly  imagine  the 
pain  of  walking  about  the  streets  of  a  Russian 
town.  I  had  experienced  it  first  in  Vienna,  that 
once  supremely  gay  and  still  very  beautiful  city. 
The  knowledge  of  what  the  privations  of  the 
unhappy  Austrians  were  (and  still  are)  first  came 
to  me  in  a  cheap  restaurant,  where  I  had  gone 
to  dine  simply  because  the  expensive  meals  at  the 
hotel  were  so  disgusting  in  their  extravagance. 


A  Starving  People  19 

I  raised  my  eyes  from  my  plate  for  a  second.  At 
least  a  dozen  pairs  of  eyes  were  glued  hungrily 
to  the  simple  food  I  was  eating,  and  as  hastily 
withdrawn  when  detected  in  the  act.  I  found  it 
almost  impossible  to  eat  in  public  after  that,  ex- 
cept when  some  hungry  Austrian  would  consent 
to  share  the  meal. 

I  have  seen  in  Vienna  old  and  young  officers  in 
uniform  creep  into  hotels  after  dusk  in  the  hope 
of  getting  scraps  of  food  for  their  hungry  children. 
I  have  seen  a  woman  of  refinement,  with  three 
small  children  clinging  to  her  skirts,  drop  the  red 
roses  she  was  trying  to  sell  as  she  reeled  with 
fatigue  against  a  wall.  I  have  tasted  the  coloured 
water  and  imitation  coffee  in  the  cafes  of  the 
Ringstrasse.  I  have  seen  the  skeleton  babes  and 
consumptive  wives  of  the  Austrian  workmen  and 
soldiers  in  their  own  homes.  And  because  I  had 
seen  these  things  in  Vienna  I  knew,  without  asking 
any  questions  in  Petrograd,  that  the  two  cities 
share  with  most  of  the  cities  of  Eastern  and  Cen- 
tral Europe  the  bonds  of  a  common  suffering. 

This  much  must  be  said  for  the  Communist 
Government  :  It  is  doing  its  best  to  secure  an 
equal  distribution  amongst  all  sections  of  the 
working  community  of  the  very  limited  supplies 
of  everything.  The  passport  to  food  and  clothing 
is  work.  St.  Paul's  dictum  is  taken  literally  in 
Russia.     If  the  workers  go  short  it  is  probably 


20         Through  Bolshevik  Russia 

because  the  food  is  not  to  be  had.  Either  it  is 
not  procurable,  because  non-existent  ;  or  trans- 
port difficulties  prevent  it  reaching  the  people. 

Of  course  the  speculator  enters  into  the  ques- 
tion, the  adventurous  private  trader  who,  defiant 
of  the  law  and  at  the  risk  of  his  life,  buys  from  the 
peasant  at  a  much  higher  price  than  the  Govern- 
ment fixed  price,  and  sells  to  the  people  privately 
or  even  in  the  open  market.  The  Extraordinary 
Commission  has  a  special  department  to  deal  with 
this  man,  and  is  very  hard  on  him  when  caught ; 
but  he  flourishes  all  the  same,  and  will  continue  to 
do  so  just  as  long  as  it  continues  to  be  impossible 
for  the  citizen  to  live  on  the  Government  ration. 

The  loathsome  black  bread  which  is  the 
people's  daily  diet  is  four  hundred  roubles*  a 
pound  when  bought  in  the  open  market.  White 
bread,  which  is  really  a  light  brown,  is  one 
thousand  roubles  a  pound.  Only  children  and 
sick  persons  are  permitted  white  bread.  Black 
bread  can  be  bought  more  cheaply  at  the  Soviet 
stores,  but  is  often  not  procurable  there  for  the 
last  comers.  Long  queues  of  tired  women  are 
everywhere  to  be  seen  waiting  their  turn  outside 
the  Government  bread  shops. 

And  then  the  clothing  !  From  Petrograd  to 
Astrakhan  I  am  quite  sure  that  not  a  hundred 
people  were  seen  in  clothing  that  was  not  shabby 

*  The  pre-war  value  of  the  rouble  was  about  2s. 


A  Starving  People  21 

and  worn  to  a  degree.  Most  of  the  British 
delegates  wore  their  oldest  clothes,  garments 
which  had  been  cast  off  and  suddenly  restored  to 
use  in  contemplation  of  the  trip  to  Russia.  But 
those  dear  Russian  people  thought  we  were  attired 
like  princes.  They  turned  us  round  to  admire  us. 
They  patted  and  stroked  our  dresses  and  over- 
coats. They  turned  longing  eyes  upon  our  boots, 
and  took  great  pleasure  in  handling  the  soft 
leather.  One  plutocrat  offered  fifty  thousand 
roubles  for  a  very  ordinary  pair  of  British  shoes. 
Eighty  thousand  roubles  was  the  price  placed 
upon  my  own  stout  walking  boots.  When,  out 
of  gratitude  to  her  for  repeated  little  acts  of 
kindness,  I  gave  the  girl  who  looked  after  my 
room  a  warm  woollen  jacket  she  fell  on  her  knees 
and  covered  my  hands  with  kisses.  When,  by 
way  of  thanks,  I  gave  a  dress  and  coat  to  the  good 
woman  who  helped  to  nurse  a  sick  friend,  she 
sobbed  on  my  shoulder  from  sheer  overwhelming 
gratitude  ! 

University  professors  came  to  see  us,  dressed 
like  English  tramps  !  A  great  singer  sang  to  us 
with  the  toes  sticking  through  his  boots  !  Women 
of  gentle  birth  and  upbringing  walked  the  hard 
pavement  with  their  feet  bound  in  strips  of  felt. 
Many  had  naked  feet.  Poor  women  were  seen 
frequently  who,  judging  by  their  outlines,  had  no 
shred  of  underclothing  under  their  thin,  cotton 


22         Through  Bolshevik  Russia 

dresses.  Socks  for  big  girls  and  grown  women 
were  a  common  sight  and  excited  the  curiosity 
of  one  Delegate  who  enquired  if  that  were  the 
latest  fashion  amongst  the  women  in  Russia. 

"  No  "  came  the  quick  reply  in  the  perfect 
English  to  which  we  were  becoming  accustomed, 
"  it  is  not  the  latest  fashion  but  the  last  economy. 
Socks  use  up  less  wool  than  stockings.  It  is 
considered  good  fortune  to  have  either  socks  or 
stockings.  Most  people  have  neither."  This 
form  of  economy,  welcome  during  the  hot  summer 
weather,  is  frightful  to  contemplate  for  the  hard 
Russian  winter. 

When  one  thinks  of  the  passionate  joy  excited 
by  the  gift  of  a  pair  of  stockings  to  each  of  a  few 
gentle,  self-respecting  Russian  girls  ;  of  what  a 
reel  of  thread  meant  to  the  mother  of  a  young 
family  ;  of  how  much  comfort  an  old  flannel 
nightdress  gave  to  a  sick  woman,  since  dead  of 
debility  due  to  lack  of  nourishment  ;  of  the 
amount  of  happiness  a  present  of  a  tablet  of  soap 
conferred,  the  wrangling  of  political  theorists, 
particularly  in  those  countries  where  such  suffer- 
ings have  not  been  dreamt  of,  much  less  experi- 
enced, appear  monstrous  and  cruel  to  the  extent 
that  these  divert  the  public  mind  from  the  im- 
mediate problem  of  succour  and  relief. 


CHAPTER  II 
Making  Our  Plans 

THE  individual  has  yet  to  be  born  who  can 
be  perfectly  just.  Even  educated  and  cul- 
tured people  find  it  difficult  in  any  given  set  of 
circumstances  not  to  exhibit  their  predilections ; 
prejudice  will  be  the  last  vice  to  disappear  and 
toleration  the  last  virtue  to  develop  in  any  large 
number  of  human  beings.  The  most  that  the 
members  of  the  British  Delegation  would  claim 
for  themselves  would  be  that  each  made  a  serious 
and  honest  attempt  to  prepare  his,  or  her,  mind 
for  straight  looking  at,  and  hard  thinking  about, 
the  great  experiment  with  which  we  were  soon 
to  come  to  close  quarters. 

We  knew  we  were  going  to  a  land  radically 
different  from  all  the  European  countries  we  had 
hitherto  visited.  We  knew  that  serious  and 
amazing  things  were  alleged  to  have  taken  place 
there.  Whilst  we  discounted  most  of  the  atrocity 
stories  of  the  sensation-loving  newspapers,  we 
realised  that,  since  war  was  not  merely  a  game 
nor   revolution   a   picnic,   frightful   things  must 

23 


24         Through  Bolshevik  Russia 

have  happened.  We  had  very  definite  views  of 
the  main  principles  embodied  in  the  various 
Communist  manifestos  which,  from  time  to 
time,  had  mysteriously  found  their  way  into  this 
country.  But  we  were  solid  in  our  conviction 
that,  whatever  we  found  in  Russia,  good,  bad  or 
indifferent,  it  was  the  concern  of  the  Russians 
themselves,  and  became  our  business  only  when 
it  was  sought  to  impose  upon  Great  Britain  the 
same  things,  without  regard  to  the  vital  differences 
between  the  two  countries. 

On  the  beautiful  sea-trip  from  Stockholm  to 
Reval  we  discussed  with  one  another  the  possi- 
bilities of  our  excursion.  Our  little  Swedish 
ship  hugged  the  coast  of  Finland  to  avoid  the 
many  thousands  of  mines  said  to  be  loose  upon 
the  waters  between  Sweden  and  Esthonia,  and  the 
loveliness  of  a  myriad  wooded  islands  amongst 
which  we  threaded  our  way  absorbed  the  best 
part  of  our  interest  until  the  open  sea  was  reached. 

"  I  wonder  if  we  shall  be  allowed  perfect 
freedom  of  action,"  murmured  one  of  our  number. 
"  What  shall  we  do  if  we  find  ourselves  a  sort  of 
Cook's  tourist  party  or  the  Royal  Family  ?  " 

One  was  quite  sure  that,  although  we  might 
be  the  guests  of  the  Government,  we  should  be 
allowed  to  go  where  we  liked  and  do  what  we 
pleased.  Another  thought  we  should  see  as 
little  as  the  Royal  Family  sees  when  it  takes  an 


Making  Our  Plans  25 

excursion  amongst  the  people.  A  third  welcomed 
the  idea  of  a  conducted  party  because  of  the 
language  difficulty.  A  fourth  expressed  the  view 
that  we  should  ask  for  our  passports  and  return 
home  at  once  if  we  were  placed  under  any  kind 
of  restraint.  It  was  finally  decided  that  we  should 
wait  and  see  ! 

After  thirty  hours  of  pleasant  sailing,  four  only 
in  the  open  sea,  we  entered  the  harbour  at  Reval 
in  a  half-moon,  just  in  time  to  see  the  last  rays  of 
light  from  the  setting  sun  make  resplendent  the 
gilded  domes  of  the  churches.  Town  and  harbour 
appeared  quaint  and  exquisite  in  the  fading 
evening  light,  and  the  frank  voices  of  the  forty  or 
fifty  Esthonian  Socialists  who  met  us  robbed  the 
strangeness  of  its  slight  discomfort.  These 
pleasant  friends  were  representative  of  all  the 
various  Socialist  sections  in  Reval — Left,  Right 
and  Centre  ;  and  whilst  they  turned  cold  looks 
on  one  another,  they  united  in  warmth  of  welcome 
to  us.  Before  we  left  the  town  we  had  supped 
with  the  Right  and  dined  with  the  Left  and  in- 
sisted on  taking  an  indiscriminate  pleasure  with 
all  at  the  concert  which  the  great  Chaliapine  gave 
that  same  evening  in  the  big  public  hall  of  the 
city. 

In  the  Hotel  Petrograd,  in  Reval,  sits 
Gowkovsky,  the  Bolshevik  representative,  through 
whose  competent  hands  pass  all  communications 


26         Through  Bolshevik  Russia 

between  Russia  and  the  rest  of  Europe.  He  is  a 
short  man  with  brown  beard  and  kind,  shrewd 
eyes  and  very  pleasant  manner.  He  spread  a 
royal  banquet  for  us  which  included  amongst  its 
provisions  the  prohibited  vodka,  bidding  us 
drink  to  the  social  revolution  in  a  beverage  which 
the  Revolutionary  Government,  following  the 
example  of  the  Czar,  has  had  the  wisdom  to 
forbid.  The  properties  of  this  fiery  drink  must 
be  of  a  very  peculiar  character,  for  one  of  the 
Delegates,  who  is  not  a  total  abstainer,  has  since 
commended  the  late  Czar's  ordinance  abolishing 
the  drink  traffic  and  has  publicly  declared  that 
the  coming  Revolution  in  Great  Britain  will  have 
to  be  accompanied  by  the  total  prohibition  of 
strong  drink. 

The  absence  of  drinking-shops  and  of  public 
drinking,  and  consequently  of  men  and  women 
the  worse  for  liquor  is  a  commendable  feature  of 
social  life  in  Russia,  and  accounts  for  many  good 
things,  probably  for  the  Revolution  itself,  almost 
certainly  for  the  almost  unvaried  success  of  the  Red 
armies.  Of  course  there  is  wine  in  the  country, 
sweet  champagne,  red  Caucasian  wines  and  the 
golden  wines  of  Persia  ;  but  these  are  for  the 
sick  and  are  not  accessible  to  ordinary  folk.  A 
doctor's  certificate  is  necessary  to  secure  them. 
Almost  certainly  there  are  illicit  stills  in  the  country 
districts,  and  speculators  are  able  to  get  hold  of 


Making  Our  Plans  27 

spirituous  liquors  illegally  ;  but  it  would  be  an 
entirely  hopeless  business  for  the  ordinary  man 
or  woman  to  try  to  discover  strong  drink  any- 
where, or  to  buy  the  expensive  light  wines  that 
here  and  there  can  be  discovered  amongst  the 
bottles  of  raspberry  vinegar  and  lemonade.  And 
the  attitude  of  the  Government  to  the  question 
of  drinking  is  evidenced  in  the  fact  that  if  a  railway 
worker  is  discovered  drunk,  having  possessed 
himself  illegally  of  vodka,  he  is  promptly  shot. 

Having  feasted  and  entertained  us  to  good 
Russian  music,  admonished  us  and  put  our 
passports  in  order,  the  kind-hearted  Gowkovsky 
packed  us  off  to  Petrograd  in  charge  of  half  a 
dozen  or  more  of  his  trusty  henchmen.  Several 
of  these  were  Jews — clever,  brainy,  shrewd,  dog- 
matic ;   excellent  linguists,  perfect  interpreters. 

One  of  the  facts  we  marked  very  soon  in  our 
adventurous  career  was  the  large  number  of 
Jews  who  occupy  positions  of  trust  and  influence 
in  the  Revolutionary  Administration.  We  re- 
marked upon  it  to  the  Jews  themselves.  We 
were  informed  that  only  two  of  the  seventeen 
People's  Commissars  were  Jews,  but  that  very 
considerable  numbers  indeed  were  employed  in 
administrative  posts,  both  nationally  and  locally, 
and  by  the  Extraordinary  Commission.  As  the 
membership  and  activity  of  large  numbers  of 
Jews  is  a  feature  of  continental  Socialist  societies, 


28         Through  Bolshevik  Russia 

particularly  in  Central  and  Eastern  Europe,  it  is 
worth  considering  for  a  moment  why  this  should 
be  so.  And  in  view  of  the  deplorable  tendency 
all  over  Europe  towards  Anti-Semitism,  it  is  an 
obligation  upon  everybody  to  try  sympathetically 
to  understand  the  character  and  point  of  view  of 
the  Jew  in  Europe. 

He  forms,  in  the  first  place,  a  very  large  part  of 
the  population  of  all  the  great  cities  and  smaller 
towns  of  Central  Europe  and  Russia.  He  is, 
generally  speaking,  the  best-educated  part  of  the 
population  where  educational  facilities  have  been 
open  to  him.  The  boycott  of  ages  and  the 
cruelties  of  centuries  have  sharpened  his  wits, 
developed  his  cunning,  forced  his  energies  into 
less  desirable  channels,  and  caused  him  to  regard 
the  men  outside  his  race  as  his  enemies  against 
whom  he  must  take  care  continuously  to  defend 
and  protect  himself.  The  Jewish  mind  is  hard, 
logical  and  dogmatic.  The  Jew's  temperament  is 
artistic  but  his  training  is  utilitarian.  He  is 
passionately  interested  in  theory  and  will  try  to 
carry  out  his  favourite  one  at  all  costs,  given  the 
power.  Having  no  country  of  his  own,  where  he 
does  not  love  the  country  of  his  adoption  he  is 
more  than  usually  international  in  his  viewpoint 
and  regards  race  before  nation,  and  both,  less 
than  his  theory  of  mankind.  He  has  great  powers 
of  organisation.    I  speak  of  him  as  I  have  known 


Making  Our  Plans  29 

him  and  admired  him  in  half  the  countries  of 
Europe  and  the  United  States  of  America. 

Over  a  plastic,  passive  people  like  the  typical 
indolent  Russian  he  was  bound  to  have  enormous 
power  and  influence.  Said  one  of  the  best- 
known  Jewish  leaders  in  Russia  to  me  when  I 
had  gently  complained  of  too  much  discipline 
and  too  little  freedom  : 

"  But  the  Russian  people  are  like  children. 
They  are  not  educated.  They  know  nothing. 
They  have  been  accustomed  for  centuries  to 
slavery  and  dictation.  Would  you  have  us  allow 
them  to  destroy  themselves  by  their  own  in- 
capacity and  inexperience  ?  Would  you  give  a 
vote  to  each  of  those  millions  of  ignorant  peasants  ? 
It  would  be  like  putting  a  knife  into  the  hands  of 
a  baby." 

How  familiar  it  all  sounded  to  me,  as  reminis- 
cences of  the  Woman  Suffrage  fight  in  England 
came  to  my  mind,  and  I  recalled  the  fact  that  this 
baby  and  carving-knife  argument  was  one  of  the 
pet  excuses  for  denying  women  their  freedom. 

None  the  less  is  it  true  that  the  Russian  people  in 
the  main  are  unaccustomed  to  freedom,  and  by  their 
nature  and  temperament  are  proper  material  for 
the  exercise  of  power  by  the  educated,  dominating 
Jew.  It  would  not  be  fair,  however,  to  neglect 
to  say  that  of  those  persons  who  spoke  to  me 
privately  in  condemnation  of  the  Bolsheviki,  a 


30         Through  Bolshevik  Russia 

very  considerable  number,  if  not  the  majority, 
were  also  Jews.  One  is  driven  to  the  conclusion 
that  it  is  the  activity  and  strength  of  his  mind, 
and  not  necessarily  a  proclivity  for  Bolshevist 
theory  which  is  chiefly  responsible  for  the  com- 
manding position  of  the  Jew  in  the  political 
affairs  of  Europe  in  general  and  of  Russia  in 
particular. 

Another  Jew,  a  fair-haired,  blue-eyed  Jew  from 
the  United  States,  met  us  on  the  Russian  frontier, 
and  offered  us  greetings  in  the  name  of  the  Soviet 
Republic.  He  was  an  interesting  personality, 
whose  history  as  a  leader  of  strikes  in  America  he 
unfolded  to  us  on  the  journey  from  the  frontier 
to  Petrograd.  He  had  a  special  train  waiting 
for  us,  gaily  decorated  with  red  bunting,  fervent 
mottoes,  and  the  green  branches  of  trees.  The 
train  was  attended  by  a  number  of  Red  Guards 
and  Bashkir  cavalrymen  in  gorgeous  purple 
uniforms,  with  wonderful  cloaks  and  long  swords. 
From  Reval  to  Narwa  we  had  been  just  a  plain, 
.ordinary  Cook's  Tourist  Party.  From  the 
Russian  frontier  to  the  end  of  our  visit  we  were 
the  Royal  Family ! 

Perhaps  the  most  thrilling  and  dramatic  note 
was  struck  by  the  fixture  of  a  big  red  flag  on  the 
frontier.  The  sight  of  it  was  altogether  too  much 
for  some  of  our  more  ardent  spirits.  They  burst 
rapturously  into  song,  first  "  The  Internationale  " 


Making  Our  Plans  31 

and  then  "  The  Red  Flag,"  the  favourite  song  of 
Socialists  in  Great  Britain. 

The  people's  flag  is  deepest  red, 
It  shrouded  oft  our  martyred  dead. 
And  ere  the  lips  grew  stiff  and  cold, 
Their  heart's  blood  dyed  its  every  fold. 

Then  raise  the  scarlet  standard  high. 
Within  its  shade  we'll  live  or  die ; 
Though  cowards  flinch  and  traitors  sneer, 
We'll  keep  the  Red  Flag  flying  here. 

At  last  we  were  about  to  enter  the  country 
where  the  Red  Flag  had  become  the  national 
emblem,  and  was  flying  over  every  public  building 
in  the  cities  of  Russia.  The  thought  thrilled  like 
new  wine. 

Half-way  to  Petrograd  deputations  from  Trade 
Unions  and  Soviets  came  into  the  train  and  made 
complimentary  speeches  in  a  half-bashful  manner, 
to  which  suitable  responses  were  made.  What  a 
pleasant  modest  set  of  fellows  they  were,  with 
big,  blue  innocent  eyes  and  reluctant  unobtrusive 
manner.  We  liked  them  immensely.  We  liked 
the  plain  people  of  Russia  wherever  we  met  them. 
At  Petrograd  itself  a  large  company  met  us 
although  it  was  three  o'clock  in  the  morning,  and 
we  were  told  that  gigantic  crowds  had  loitered 
about  the  station  all  the  day  in  expectation  of  our 
coming  and  in  the  hope  of  getting  a  glimpse  at  the 
English  strangers.    We  were  at  once  motored  to 


32  Through  Bolshevik  Russia 

the  quarters  which  had  been  prepared  for  us, 
the  palace  of  a  Russian  princess,  and  there,  at 
four  o'clock  in  the  morning,  we  sat  down  to  a 
simple  but  sufficient  meal  and  received  our 
welcome  from  the  Trade  Union  officials  who  were 
to  be  our  hosts  during  our  stay. 

We  were  behind  the  "  iron  curtain  "  at  last  ! 


CHAPTER  III 
Ghosts 

WHEN  I  was  a  little  child  I  had  a  lively  and 
delicious  contact  with  fairies.  We  used 
to  laugh  and  sing  and  dance  together  through 
many  happy  hours  like  the  good  comrades  we 
were.  But  I  cannot  say  that  I  have  ever  seen  a 
ghost ;  that  is,  I  had  never  seen  one  until  I  went 
to  Russia.  During  the  whole  of  the  time  I  was 
in  Russia  I  was  haunted. 

The  Russian  novelists  have  been  very  faithful 
to  their  people.  Turgenieff,  Dostoievski,  Gorky, 
Tolstoy,  and  the  rest  of  them  take  one  into  the 
real  Russia  as  one  reads.  It  is  a  country  peopled 
with  human  beings  who  dream  dreams  and  see 
visions,  who  have  suffered  more  cruelly  and  as- 
pired more  loftily  than  the  people  of  most  other 
European  countries. 

The  Narishkin  Palace  in  which  we  were  lodged 
is  a  fine  house  devoted  to  the  mistress  of  one  of 
the  Czars  by  her  lover.  It  lies  on  the  banks  of 
the  Neva  and  faces,  on  the  other  side,  the  grim 
fortress  of  St.  Peter  and  St.  Paul.  I  stood  on  the 
c  33 


34         Through  Bolshevik  Russia 

balcony  and  looked  across  the  river  at  the  place  of 
horrors  where  so  many  of  Russia's  noblest  men 
and  women  had  gone  to  their  deaths,  the  poor 
victims  of  tyrant  princes  and  their  ministers.  The 
abominable  cruelties  practised  upon  the  martyrs 
for  Russian  freedom  have  been  as  familiar  to 
one's  mind  as  the  alphabet,  and  for  almost  as 
long.  One's  youngest,  purest  and  best  emotion  has 
been  given  throughout  one's  life  to  those  who  have 
endured  torture,  disgrace  and  death  for  truth  and 
liberty. 

I  recalled  a  meeting  with  Volkhovsy  in  England, 
deaf  and  crippled  by  his  sufferings  in  this  hideous 
fortress  ;  of  Prince  Kropotkin,  one  of  the  oldest 
of  the  surviving  victims  of  Czarist  tyranny  ;  of 
Madame  Breshskovski,  the  "  grandmother  of 
the  Revolution  "  ;  of  Marie  Spirodovna,  whose 
special  sufferings  as  a  young  woman  were  loath- 
some and  unspeakable.  In  sad  procession  these 
figures  of  tortured  and  wounded  and  dead  passed 
silently  before  my  eyes  as  I  leaned  over  the  stone 
balcony  and  gazed  into  the  red  light  of  the  sky 
behind  the  dark  fortress  we  were  sometime  soon 
to  visit. 

And  into  my  dreams  they  pursued  me.  The 
room  in  the  Narishkin  Palace  which  I  shared  with 
Madame  Balabanov  was  once  on  a  time  a  beautiful 
salon.  A  scanty  curtain  which  stretched  only 
half-way  across  the  room  made  a  pretence  of 


Ghosts  35 

dividing  it  in  two  and  securing  privacy  for  each 
of  us.  Behind  the  curtain  was  the  door  which 
opened  into  the  dining-room.  Close  to  my  bed 
was  a  second  door  which  led  to  the  corridor,  at 
the  end  of  which  was  a  bedroom.  There  were 
neither  long  curtains  nor  blinds  to  keep  out  the 
everlasting  light.  Some  thin  and  inadequate 
muslin  was  drawn  across  the  lower  half  of  the 
windows,  but  was  too  scanty  to  afford  any 
protection  against  observers  in  the  building 
opposite. 

On  entering  the  room  after  the  intense  fatigue 
and  excitement  of  the  long  journey  one  felt  its 
beauty  comforting  and  refreshing.  The  fine  linen 
sheets,  the  soft  silk  hangings,  the  eiderdown  bed- 
covers, the  thick  velvety  carpet,  the  quaint, 
carved  and  gilded  furniture  spoke  of  gentle  living 
utterly  unlooked-for  by  us,  and,  to  do  ourselves 
justice,  undesired  by  us  in  a  country  full  of  people 
slowly  dying  for  lack  of  the  barest  necessaries. 
It  was  the  most  exaggerated  kindness  on  the 
part  of  our  hosts,  so  anxious  to  make  us  com- 
fortable and  happy,  to  give  us  the  very  best  they 
possessed. 

But  there,  for  me,  was  the  trouble.  They  gave 
us  all  this  luxury  and  beauty,  but  was  it  theirs  to 
give  or  ours  to  receive  ?  They  had  no  doubts 
on  this  score  whatever.  They  could  see  nothing 
at  all  in  the  argument  that  the  present  possessor 


36         Through  Bolshevik  Russia 

of  property  that  belongs  morally,  if  not  legally, 
to  the  State,  having  been  permitted  to  grow  up  in 
the  belief  that  what  the  law  sanctioned  must 
necessarily  be  right,  is  not  quite  fairly  treated  if 
he  is  quite  suddenly  turned  into  the  streets  without 
resources,  and  his  property  confiscated. 

One  would  not  dispute  for  a  moment  the 
principle  that  nobody  should  possess  luxuries 
or  even  superfluous  comforts  until  the  elementary 
needs  of  everybody  have  been  amply  satisfied  and 
secured  ;  or  that  a  royal  palace  is  put  to  much 
better  use  when  it  shelters  many  industrious 
persons  than  when  it  houses  a  king's  mistress  and 
her  lackeys.  But  there  is  a  difference  as  great 
as  between  black  and  white  and  right  and  wrong, 
between  the  declared  will  of  the  majority  of  the 
citizens  acting  through  their  National  Assembly  or 
Parliament  which,  in  the  interest  of  the  community 
dispossesses  an  individual  but  secures  the  future 
of  his  wife  and  children  as  well  as  himself,  and  the 
arbitrary  action  of  the  minority  in  power,  who 
roughly  confiscate  without  consideration  for  the 
dispossessed. 

"  Where  is  the  owner  of  this  beautiful  house  ?  " 
I  asked  several  times,  but  I  could  get  no  reply. 
Nobody  knew.  I  heard  the  story  of  a  Princess 
Narishkin  who  was  doing  good  work  for  the 
children  under  the  Soviet,  but  do  not  know  if  it 
was   true.     One   heard   so   many   contradictory 


Ghosts  37 

stories.  If  true,  was  she  happy,  I  wondered  ? 
It  might  conceivably  be  so.  The  old  revolu- 
tionary movement  in  Russia  was  by  no  means  a 
one-class  movement.  Many  of  the  old  regime 
have  willingly  consented  to  the  confiscation  of 
their  estates  and  goods  and  are  content  to  do  hard 
work  for  the  new  Republic.  In  such  cases  no 
question  of  right  or  wrong  arises.  These  are 
rare  souls. 

Before  the  end  of  the  visit  I  met  an  old  man 
who  was  the  millionaire  owner  of  a  great  line  of 
steamships  before  the  Revolution.  The  Revo- 
lution had  completely  dispossessed  him.  I  found 
him  quite  content  and  happy  about  it.  He  formed 
part  of  the  secretariat  of  an  important  Committee 
on  Communications  and  travelled  regularly  as  a 
Government  employe  on  his  own  ships.  His  one 
grievance  was  the  way  in  which  the  inventory  of 
his  fortune  had  been  taken.  He  felt  that  his 
revolutionary  record  might  have  secured  him 
more  considerate  treatment  in  the  method  of 
taking  over  his  enterprises  ;  but  even  on  this  point 
he  was  entirely  without  bitterness. 

In  Astrakhan  we  met  the  owner  of  a  great  fish- 
curing  industry,  who  had  yielded  up  everything 
to  the  Republic  without  a  murmur,  and  who 
declared  himself  happier  making  nets  along  with 
his  former  workpeople  than  he  had  ever  been  in 
his  life. 


38         Through  Bolshevik  Russia 

I  slipped  quickly  into  my  bed  that  first  night  in 
Petrograd  and  tried  to  sleep  and  forget  the  ghost 
my  self-questioning  had  raised  ;  but  sleep  refused 
to  come.  It  was  not  because  no  darkness  came 
and  the  pale  light  streamed  in  through  the  un- 
shaded windows.  It  was  not  altogether  the  lack 
of  privacy,  though  the  fact  that  one's  room  was 
regarded  as  a  public  highway  through  which  the 
men  and  women  of  the  household  tramped  in- 
discriminately whenever  they  chose  was,  to  say 
the  least  of  it,  disconcerting.  I  felt  like  a  guilty 
thing,  lying  uninvited  by  its  owner  in  that  soft, 
white  bed,  whilst  the  poor  creature  who  once 
occupied  it  might  be  sleeping  on  straw.  I  dozed  ; 
and  inevitably  cold,  sad  eyes  in  a  thin,  hungry- 
looking  face  would  gaze  at  me  with  the 
look  of  any  woman  whose  house  had  been 
entered  by  intruders  she  was  powerless  to  put 
outside. 

I  tried  very  hard  to  control  my  imagination,  but 
it  was  very  difficult.  Cruelty  is  one  of  the  vices 
which  madden  one.  When  we  rode  in  the  late 
Czar's  motor-car,  I  did  not  feel  the  presence  of 
my  fellow-delegates,  but  the  ghosts  of  the  mur- 
dered unhappy  little  man  and  his  family.  The 
car  was  a  thing  of  beauty,  large  and  luxurious. 
Without  it  one  could  have  seen  very  little.  But 
the  perfect  joy  of  using  it  was  marred  by  two 
things — the  sight  of  the  sore  and  undressed  feet 


Ghosts  39 

of  many  of  the  weary  proletarians  of  Moscow  who 
had  not  the  means  even  for  a  tram-ride,  much 
less  a  ride  in  an  automobile  or  a  droshky  ;  and 
by  the  obvious  joy  and  satisfaction  with  which 
those  who  accompanied  us  on  our  investigations 
regarded  the  capture  of  the  Czar's  car  as  an  emblem 
of  a  cruel  triumph. 

1  Whenever  you  are  tempted  to  feel  concerned 
about  the  execution  of  the  Czar  and  his  family," 
said  a  friendly  Communist,  "  think  about  the 
millions  of  innocent  human  beings  who  have 
recently  lost  their  lives  through  the  policies  of 
that  man  and  his  ministers.  And  call  to  your 
mind  the  vast  hosts  of  martyrs  who  have  fallen 
victims  to  the  cruelties  of  his  predecessors." 

The  advice  was  well-meant  but  unnecessary. 
I  have  already  said  that  it  would  be  impossible 
to  forget  the  martyrs  of  the  Revolution  and  the 
tortures  of  those  grand  idealists  of  Russia.  The 
visit  in  Petrograd  to  the  graves  of  some  of  them 
is  an  incident  in  a  wide  experience  in  many 
countries,  the  memory  of  which  will  stay  with 
me  to  the  end  of  my  days.  It  was  so  sincere, 
yet  so  dramatic. 

A  large  open  space  in  the  heart  of  the  city  called 
the  Field  of  Mars,  and  devoted  in  the  old  times 
to  military  reviews  and  the  drilling  of  troops,  is 
being  converted  by  the  Communists  into  a  fine 
memorial  of  the  heroes  of  the  Revolution  who  have 


4o         Through  Bolshevik  Russia 

lost  their  lives  in  some  prominent  fashion  in  the 
struggle  for  freedom.  Voluntary  labour  and  the 
labour  of  the  Red  Army  is  digging  up  the  hard 
soil  and  planting  beautiful  trees  in  symmetrical 
designs.  In  the  middle  of  this  large  tract  a  simple 
stone  memorial  has  been  erected.  It  is  not  a 
flaunting  column  shouting  to  the  sky,  but  it  takes 
the  form  of  a  low,  solid,  granite  wall,  enclosing 
in  four  sections  with  rounded  corners  a  burial 
ground.  The  spaces  between  the  sections  permit 
people  to  enter.  From  all  parts  of  Russia  the 
bodies  have  been  brought  and  are  laid  just  inside 
the  wall  and  all  the  way  round.  A  footpath 
follows  the  wall  and  encloses  the  graves  on  the 
other  side.  The  centre  of  the  square  is  at  present 
a  grass-plot  with  flowers  and  shrubs.  The  whole 
thing  is  naturally  on  a  very  large  scale. 

One  lovely  evening,  after  a  most  enthusiastic 
gathering  inside  the  People's  Hall,  we  were  taken 
in  a  decorated  tramcar  to  see  the  Martyrs' 
Memorial.  I  have  experienced  nothing  in  my 
life  so  moving  and  impressive.  A  great  crowd 
from  the  meeting  accompanied  us,  and  stood  in 
silent  groups  outside  the  wall  whilst  we  walked 
slowly  round.  The  eyes  of  the  leaders  shone 
with  the  light  of  a  great  pride  and  a  deep  passion 
as  they  approached  one  by  one  the  graves  of  their 
honoured  dead.    The  pride  melted  into  tears  at 


Ghosts  41 

some  of  the  graves,  when  we  stopped  in  our  walk 
and  sang  slowly  a  verse  of  the  plaintive  martyrs' 
hymn,  a  sad  and  haunting  melody  with  just  a 
single  note  of  triumph  in  it.  One  after  another 
the  heroes  were  pointed  out  to  us.  Here  was  a 
man  who  had  been  tortured  to  death.  Here  was 
one  who  was  shot  by  hired  Government  assassins. 
Here  lay  one  who  was  blown  to  bits  by  his  own 
bomb  ;  here  a  tender  girl  who  gave  up  her  life 
for  the  cause. 

The  tears  were  quickly  dried.  Russian  revo- 
lutionaries do  not  weep  easily.  Instead  of  tears  a 
hard  glitter  filled  the  eyes  of  a  fierce  fellow. 
"  But  we  will  be  avenged,"  he  shouted.  "  For 
every  one  of  our  comrades  who  has  died  like  this 
we  will  send  ten  of  the  bourgeois  to  their  graves." 
I  shuddered  in  the  presence  of  a  terrible  fanati- 
cism. Poor  ghosts  !  If  they  could  rise  from  the 
dead  would  they  not  tell  us  to  make  no  more 
human  sacrifices  to  their  memory  ?  Would  they 
not  speak  to  us  of  a  better  way  ? 

I  tried  hard  to  get  a  copy  of  the  mournful  song 
we  sang  on  this  and  many  occasions  subsequently. 
I  was  several  times  promised  it  but  it  never  came. 
The  words  I  never  knew  for  they  were  Russian, 
but  the  melody  I  captured  and  I  give  it  as  it 
printed  itself  upon  my  mind.  It  will  be  recog- 
nised by  Russian  readers. 


42         Through  Bolshevik  Russia 


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Ghosts  43 

This  habit  of  seeing  ghosts  brought  me  a 
good  deal  of  chaff  not  only  from  the  Communists 
but  from  my  own  friends.  One  of  the  Commun- 
ists made  a  speech  in  defence  of  violent  methods 
and  gave  a  sidelook  at  me  when  he  reminded  the 
British  Delegates  that  "  once  on  a  time  the  British 
Government  made  its  king  shorter  by  a  head,"  as 
did  the  people  of  France. 

"  It  is  quite  true,'*  I  said  afterwards  to  a  group  of 
Communists  who  were  discussing  with  us  the  meet- 
ing. "  King  Charles  the  First  was  executed  three 
hundred  years  ago  in  England.  But  it  was  after  a 
proper  trial  by  the  recognised  Courts  of  Justice. 
He  was  found  guilty  of  the  charges  laid  against 
him.  And  we  did  not  shoot  his  wife  and  children. 
But  if  the  idea  of  his  execution  was  to  get  rid 
of  kings  it  was  the  wrong  way  ;  for  kings  we  have 
still  with  us.  And  they  will  remain  with  us  so 
long  as  the  king-idea  continues  to  be  acceptable  to 
the  human  mind.  The  Allies  will  never  destroy 
the  idea  of  Communism  with  their  guns.  The 
Communists  can  never  destroy  the  idea  of  king- 
ship and  capitalism  with  their  scaffolds.  Only  a 
good  idea  can  slay  a  bad  one.  Only  by  proving 
that  there  is  more  manliness  in  democracy  than 
autocracy,  and  more  morality  in  Communism  than 
in  capitalism  will  the  one  institution  give  way  to 
the  other." 

Of  course  I  spoke  to  people  who  could  never 


44         Through  Bolshevik  Russia 

be  convinced  in  a  thousand  years  of  argument. 
Neither  could  they  understand  the  distinction  one 
made  between  the  system  and  the  individual. 
To  them  all  is  the  same.  And  individuals  must 
be  made  responsible  for  the  suffering  which  is 
caused  by  the  system,  even  though  they  may 
themselves  be  tender  and  pitiful,  and  innocent  of 
wrong. 

It  was  the  great  point  of  difference  which 
separated  spiritually  my  hosts  and  me.  "  You 
can  never  build  a  permanent  system  on  hate,"  I 
said  again  and  again  ;  but  they  believe  they  can. 
And  because  of  this  belief  they  have  no  pity  to 
spare  for  the  innocent  children  of  a  hated  monarch 
and  his  foolish,  fanatical  wife,  all  shot  in  the  name 
of  Authority  for  the  crime  of  being  themselves. 

Their  poor  ghosts  flitted  in  and  out  of  the 
compartments  in  the  train  which  was  lent  to  us 
in  our  journey  from  Saratov  to  Reval,  the  train 
belonging  to  the  Czar's  daughters.  And  follow- 
ing them,  in  tragic  sequence,  the  endless  pro- 
cession of  ghosts  tramping  their  way  through  the 
snows  to  Siberia  to  the  crack  of  the  Cossack 
whips. 

Russia  is  full  of  ghosts. 


CHAPTER  IV 
Investigation  or  Propaganda? 

PEOPLE  in  Russia  appear  to  be  able  to  live 
without  sleep.  At  any  rate  they  never  go 
to  bed  before  the  small  hours  of  the  morning.  Very 
rarely  were  we  allowed  to  go  to  our  rooms  before 
two  o'clock,  and  it  was  frequently  three  o'clock 
in  the  morning.  On  entering  Russia  we  were 
asked  to  alter  our  watches  by  three  hours,  making 
the  time  so  much  in  advance  of  English  time,  and 
we  used  to  console  ourselves  that  it  was  "  really 
only  midnight  "  when,  almost  too  weary  to  stand, 
we  staggered  to  our  rooms  at  this  terribly  un- 
English  hour.  Soon  we  became  quite  used  to  the 
sight  of  little  children  playing  about  at  eleven  and 
twelve  at  night,  and  to  the  spectacle  of  a  plough- 
man ploughing  his  land  at  an  hour  when  it  was 
difficult  to  say  whether  twilight  or  the  dawn 
lighted  his  labours.  The  hour  of  rising  is  corre- 
spondingly late,  and  breakfast  was  seldom  served 
earlier  than  9.30  or  10  o'clock. 

The  first  meal  at  a  Russian  table  was  naturally 
to  be  a  matter  of  interest  to  us.    At  this,  the  first, 

45 


46         Through  Bolshevik  Russia 

and  at  all  subsequent  meals,  there  was  an  ample 
supply,  though  not  a  riotous  abundance,  of  very 
simple  food.  Every  nerve  had  been  strained  to 
make  the  change  from  profusion  to  scarcity  as 
easy  as  possible.  It  was  realised  that  it  takes  a 
long  time  to  get  used  to  black  bread  after  white, 
thin  soup  after  thick,  and  imitation  tea  after  the 
real  thing. 

Real  tea  and  coffee  are  well-nigh  unprocurable 
in  Russia  at  present.  Yet  they  procured  these 
for  the  British  guests.  These  good  things  came 
to  us,  we  were  informed,  because  great  stores  of 
them  had  been  captured  from  Judenitch  who  had 
received  them  through  the  British  War  Office. 
For  our  hosts  this  fact  added  a  piquancy  to  their 
hospitality,  which  a  sufficiently  developed  sense 
of  humour  enabled  us  to  understand. 

Our  breakfast  consisted  of  a  sufficient  supply  of 
brown  bread,  hard  but  not  unpleasant  to  the  taste, 
butter  and  thin  slices  of  cheese.  On  alternate 
mornings  we  had  smoked  fish  or  slices  of  ham. 
There  was  abundance  of  tea  served  in  glasses 
from  the  samovar,  with  sugar  but  no  milk. 
Occasionally  there  was  coffee.  We  were  served 
by  a  dignified  "  tovarisch  "  (tovarisch  is  Russian 
for  "  comrade  ")  who  looked  as  though  he 
were  a  typical  English  butler,  and  who,  I  was 
credibly  informed,  actually  was  a  relic  of  the  old 
regime.    His  was  a  stolid,  grave  face,  as  became  the 


Investigation  or  Propaganda  ?       47 

servant  of  departed  princes.  What  his  thoughts 
were  as  he  moved  quietly  about  the  room  I  would 
have  given  many  roubles  to  know. 

At  the  head  of  the  table,  our  brilliant  little 
hostess  in  Petrograd,  sat  Madame  Angelica  Bala- 
banov.  This  lady  is  one  of  the  most  wonderful 
linguists  I  have  ever  met.  She  seems  to  have  all 
the  languages  on  the  tip  of  her  tongue.  She  is 
a  speaker  of  enormous  power  and  eloquence,  so 
eloquent  indeed,  and  so  fiery,  that  I  am  certain, 
given  the  right  kind  of  human  material  to  work 
upon,  she  could  make  a  revolution  by  herself. 
Small  wonder  the  Soviet  Government  wished  to 
make  her  their  ambassador  to  Rome.  No  wonder 
at  all  that  the  Italians  were  too  frightened  to  have 
her.  She  loves  Italy  passionately.  She  looks 
like  an  Italian  with  her  dark  skin,  mysterious 
glowing  eyes  and  twin  plaits  of  long  black  hair 
reaching  far  below  her  waist  when  uncoiled  ;  and 
with  this  appearance  and  her  magic  tongue,  she 
might  soon  have  won  the  Italians  for  Bolshevism. 
She  is  one  of  the  kindest  of  women  in  all  normal 
relationships.  But  I  could  well  imagine  her  de- 
stroying her  best  friend  for  the  glory  of  Bolshevism, 
should  such  a  sacrifice  appear  to  be  necessary. 

After  that  first  breakfast  the  Delegation  met  in 
the  bedroom  of  the  chairman  to  discuss  our 
programme  and  the  plans  which  we  saw  had  been 
prepared  for  us,  and  the  methods  of  investigation 


48         Through  Bolshevik  Russia 

we  proposed  to  adopt.  There  was  a  division  of 
opinion  about  the  latter,  which  hinged  upon  the 
propriety  or  otherwise  of  delivering  ourselves 
into  the  hands  of  our  hosts. 

In  numerous  speeches,  both  public  and  private, 
we  had  been  assured  not  only  of  the  warmth  of 
our  welcome,  but  of  the  intention  of  the  Bolsheviki 
to  let  us  see  everything — good,  bad  and  indifferent. 
"  We  have  nothing  whatever  to  hide,  so  why  should 
you  not  be  free  to  go  where  you  will  and  see  what 
you  wish."  This  sounded  splendid.  We  heaved 
a  sigh  of  relief.  We  had  been  in  mortal  terror  of 
being  a  conducted  party. 

The  theory  was,  therefore,  that  we  were  to  go 
where  we  pleased  and  see  what  we  chose  and  speak 
to  whom  we  desired  to  speak  ;  in  short,  to  have 
perfect  freedom.  But  in  practice  this  freedom  was 
every  whit  as  illusory  as  the  raising  of  the  British 
blockade.  As  events  transpired,  we  were  every- 
where accompanied  by  representatives  of  the 
Authorities,  who  were  sent,  it  was  said,  partly 
to  act  as  interpreters  and  partly  to  protect  us  from 
counter-revolutionaries  and  Polish  spies  who  might 
be  lurking  about  with  bombs  !  The  number  of 
such  persons  who  accompanied  us  on  most  of 
our  visits,  whether  to  inspect  a  factory  or  a  work- 
shop or  to  interview  a  Commissar,  was  seldom  less 
than  half  a  dozen  and  generally  was  ten  or  even 
twenty.     Sometimes  as  many  as  fifty  people  by 


Investigation  or  Propaganda  ?      49 

actual  count  accompanied  us  round  a  factory. 
They  got  fearfully  in  the  way,  and  often  crowded 
out  members  of  the  Delegation  eager  to  get  close 
to  charts  and  maps  and  anxious  to  ask  questions. 
But  we  were  all  very  good-humoured  about  this, 
because  we  realised  that  this  was  the  first  time  for 
for  five  years  that  these  people  had  been  permitted 
to  look  upon  the  face  of  the  foreigner,  and  that  a 
perfectly  natural  curiosity  was  entitled  to  be 
satisfied. 

It  was  not  so  much  the  number  of  persons  who 
accompanied  us  that  was  the  trouble,  although  this 
host  of  followers  gave  our  enterprise  a  circus- 
like quality  which  some  of  us  would  have  been 
glad  to  exchange  for  a  more  business-like  atmo- 
sphere. There  is  certainly  a  lack  of  freedom  in 
the  feeling  that  one  is  being  watched  all  the  time, 
and  one's  words  and  actions  and  the  people  with 
whom  one  speaks  noted  by  gentlemen  who  hold 
positions  in  Government  service,  either  in  connec- 
tion with  the  Foreign  Office  or  the  Extraordinary 
Commission,  as  was  the  case  with  several  of  our 
closest  attendants. 

But  there  were  other  factors  which  operated  to 
place  a  check  upon  our  activities. 

In  the  first  place  a  programme  of  places  to  be 
visited  and  things  to  be  seen  was  presented  to 
us  which,  if  carried  out  only  in  part,  would  have 
absorbed  every  second  of  our  time  and  lessened 


50         Through  Bolshevik  Russia 

still  further  the  number  of  hours  to  be  devoted 
to  sleep.  The  time-tables  given  to  us  when  we 
entered  Petrograd  and  Moscow  were  simply 
staggering.  "  Can  human  beings  go  through 
that  and  live  ?  "  we  asked  one  another.  We 
thought  we  began  to  see  some  of  the  reasons  why 
Russian  men  and  women  look  ten  years  older  than 
they  are — no  sleep,  too  much  tea,  and  this  sort 
of  thing  I  Needless  to  say,  we  edited  those  pro- 
grammes with  much  firmness  and  vigour.  And 
even  so,  some  of  us  found  it  extremely  difficult 
to  get  as  much  time  to  ourselves  as  was  necessary 
to  take  a  bath  or  darn  a  sock. 

Another  curious  fact  speedily  unfolded  itself. 
The  real  nature  of  our  mission  to  Russia  appeared 
not  to  be  understood.  It  was  believed,  or  the 
belief  was  affected,  that  we  had  come  in  the  spirit 
of  full  agreement  with  them,  whereas  we  were 
there  to  enquire  and  to  inform  ourselves.  It  was 
frequently  suggested,  both  privately  and  publicly, 
that  "  the  representatives  of  the  revolutionary 
working-class  movement  in  Great  Britain  had  come 
to  bring  greetings  and  assistance  to  the  revolution- 
ary Government  of  Russia."  From  this  belief,  or 
the  affectation  of  it,  sprang  the  clever  notion  of 
using  us  in  every  possible  way  to  advance  their 
propaganda.  Immense  public  demonstrations, 
both  indoor  and  outdoor,  at  which  we  were 
expected  to  make  speeches  were  already  arranged 


Investigation  or  Propaganda  ?       51 

for  us  when  we  arrived  there.  We  were  never 
consulted  about  our  desires  in  the  matter.  There 
were  enormous  military  parades  and  Trade 
Union  marches,  which  we  were  made  to  watch 
from  a  high  platform,  where  we  became  the  easy 
victims  of  the  Government  Press  photographer 
and  the  moving  picture  operator. 

On  several  occasions  members  of  the  Delega- 
tion addressed  the  troops  in  language  eminently 
satisfying  to  the  Bolshevik  Commissars,  and 
those  like  myself,  who  declined  to  do  this  on  the 
ground  that  we  had  not  come  for  such  a 
purpose,  became  objects  of  suspicion  and  of  quiet 
dislike.  Dinners  and  suppers  followed  each  other 
in  quick  succession,  at  which  the  soon- to-be- 
familiar  revolutionary  toasts  were  made  the  occa- 
sion for  more  speeches.  We  were  displayed  in 
the  box  of  the  late  Czar  at  the  Opera  to  interested 
spectators  numbering  several  thousands  on  each 
occasion  both  in  Petrograd  and  Moscow.  The 
way  in  which  our  clever  hosts  contrived  to  place 
us  under  a  very  real  and  lasting  obligation  by  their 
generous  regard  for  our  physical  welfare  during 
the  whole  period  of  our  visit,  and  at  the  same 
time  to  extract  from  us  for  their  own  purposes 
the  last  ounce  of  propaganda  usefulness  excited 
my  warmest  admiration. 

As  propagandists  there  is  surely  no  race  and  no 
class  to  surpass  the  Russian  Communists.     At 


52         Through  Bolshevik  Russia 

such  work  they  are  simply  superb.  I  am  quite 
convinced  from  my  own  observation  that  they 
have  won  their  victories  on  the  battlefield 
far  more  through  their  leaflets  than  their  bullets. 
The  propaganda  trains  they  are  sending  daily 
to  the  Polish  front  are  marvels  of  ingenuity. 
Inside  and  outside  these  trains  are  covered  with 
vivid  pictures  portraying  side  by  side  the  horrors 
of  Capitalism  and  the  glories  of  Communism 
in  simple  intelligible  form,  the  horrid  capitalist 
murdering  the  poor  peasant  or  standing  trium- 
phant over  a  dying  woman  and  child,  whilst 
Communist  fields  bursting  with  grain  yield  to 
the  sickle  of  the  happy,  sun-browned,  well-fed 
harvester.  Posters  giving  simple  but  effective 
figures,  making  glowing  promises,  or  issuing 
electric  appeals  to  the  proletariat  to  "  rise  and 
shake  off  the  hated  chains  of  the  bourgeoisie  " 
decorate  these  railway  carriages  through  the  whole 
of  their  length.  Over  the  Polish  lines  burst 
shrapnel  cases  filled  with  leaflets.  Or  they  scatter 
Russian  passports  for  all  the  Poles  who  wish  to 
desert  and  come  over  the  lines. 

The  value  of  propaganda  on  a  big  scale  for  the 
prosecution  of  its  aims  was  discovered  by  the 
Government  in  Great  Britain  during  the  war. 
Large  sums  of  public  money  were  spent  upon  it. 
Against  this  use  of  the  taxes  British  Socialists 
protested    with    warmth    and    unanimity    as    a 


Investigation  or  Propaganda  ?       53 

violation  of  personal  rights.  But  not  so  would 
the  Communists  have  acted.  The  Government  of 
Russia  conducts  such  operations  on  an  incredible 
scale.  Whole  buildings  of  great  size  are  stuffed 
from  floor  to  ceiling  with  pamphlets  and  leaflets 
printed  in  every  well-used  language  in  the  world, 
and  a  tireless  and  powerful  propaganda  in  the 
principles  of  Communism  is  carried  on  at  the 
expense  of  the  Russian  State  in  every  country 
in  the  world  to  which  Bolshevist  agents  have 
access.  Here  is  the  last  sentence  in  the  section 
devoted  to  Education  in  the  Communist  Manifesto 
of  1919  : 

"  To  develop  the  propaganda  of  Communist 
ideas  on  a  wide  scale,  and  for  that  purpose, 
of  taking  advantage  of  the  State  means  and 
apparatus." 

Our  first  public  reception  in  Petrograd  was  at 
a  dinner  given  to  us  by  the  Petrograd  Soviet. 
It  was  held  in  a  great  room  which  had  formerly 
been  a  stable  but  had  been  converted  into  the 
hall  of  a  very  fine  public  assembly-room.  All 
along  the  walls  were  banners  specially  prepared 
for  our  coming,  on  some  of  which  were  sentences 
in  English,  tendering  us  good  advice  on  the  lines 
of  "  Go  thou  and  do  likewise."  Some  of  the 
thoughts  so  advertised  were  very  fine,  and  one  I 
cannot  refrain  from  mentioning,  representing  as 


54         Through  Bolshevik  Russia 

it  does  all  that  is  best  and  finest  in  the  Communist 
idea  :  "  We  are  working  for  the  children,  for 
the  future,  for  humanity."  This  is  a  much  bigger 
conception  than  the  "  dictatorship  of  the  prole- 
tariat," which  is  a  very  big  and  very  important 
section,  but  only  a  section  of  "  humanity." 

As  we  entered  the  long  passage  which  led  to 
this  dining-hall  we  heard  in  the  distance  the 
strains  of  "  The  Internationale."  Alas,  I  thought, 
we  are  guilty  of  the  rudeness  of  being  late.  Not 
at  all !  This  was  simply  the  orchestra  getting 
itself  into  form.  As  we  entered,  it  burst  forth 
again  with  joyful  hilarity.  We  stood  by  our  seats 
till  the  end,  and  then  proceeded  to  talk  to  our 
neighbours.  For  the  third  time  the  band  broke 
into  the  strain.  Some  members  of  our  party 
had  strolled  in  late.  It  was  essential  that  they 
should  have  a  royal  reception  also.  We  settled 
down  once  more.  Suddenly  everybody  started  to 
his  feet  again.  It  was  "  The  International^  "  for 
the  fifth  time,  sung  to  welcome  the  President  of  the 
Soviet  to  his  chair.  Then  came  the  food,  and,  at 
intervals,  the  speeches.  After  each  speech  came 
"  The  Internationale,"  and  whatever  we  were  doing, 
eating  or  speaking,  it  had  to  cease  until  the  National 
Anthem  of  the  world-proletariat,  if  I  may  so 
describe  it,  had  been  sung.  And  a  curiously 
amusing  feature  of  this  singing  was,  that  it  indi- 
cated the  degree  of  approval  conferred  upon  the 


Investigation  or  Propaganda  ?       55 

speech.  If  the  speech  were  a  blood-red  revolu- 
tionary speech  in  the  recognised  style,  the  whole 
of  the  three  verses  was  sung.  If  the  speech  were 
of  a  quieter  pattern,  two  verses  followed.  If,  as 
happened  in  one  case,  the  speech  kept  close  to 
the  facts  of  the  situation  and  lacked  vim,  one 
verse  only  was  its  reward.  All  this  may  have 
happened  without  design,  but  it  happened  so. 
And  anyhow,  we  learnt  the  tune  of  "  The  Inter- 
nationale "  unforgettably  that  night,  for  it  was 
sung  whole  or  in  part,  exactly  seventeen  times  ! 

"  Are  you  not  afraid,"  I  asked,  of  a  Communist 
who  was  near  me,  "  that  the  people  will  get  tired 
of  that  song  if  you  sing  it  so  often  ?  I  can  imagine 
nothing  more  tiresome  to  the  ears  of  our  king 
than  the  public  prayer  for  his  salvation  put  up 
for  him  every  time  he  pays  a  public  call." 

"  Why,  yes,"  he  replied,  "  the  people  are  a 
little  tired  of  it ;  but  it  is  necessary  to  supersede 
the  old  National  Anthem  and  such  songs  as  are 
associated  with  the  old  order,  and  instil  into  them 
revolutionary  melodies.    It  is  good  propaganda." 

Shades  of  the  departed  !  Will  the  music  of 
the  country  also  be  sacrificed  to  the  insatiable 
spirit  of  Karl  Marx  ? 


56         Through  Bolshevik  Russia 


THE    INTERNATIONALE 


EEEitj=*i*: 


HE5 


3 


'I  J,  J^ti1^ 


*±3 


afe 


«; 


I,  A  -  rise,  ye  starvelings,  from  your  slum-bers,  A  -  rise,  ye   crim-i-nals  of 


-K-£-*- 


*.j+M 


^^jjjt^^j 


want,  For  reason  in  revolt  now  thunders,  And  at  last  ends  the  age  of  cant. 


w 


idim^^m^mdm 


Now  away  with  all  su  -  per-sti  tions,  Servile  masses,    a-rise  !  a-rise  !  We'll 


i 


■f-ft 


:d= 


:=i: 


ff 


^=2 


#* 


2^SE 


change  forthwith  the  old  con  -  di  -tions,  And  spurn  the  dust  to  win  the  prize. 


Chorus. 


.+ 


=1 


J^ 


^zjsM"T 


«^ 


2 


Then,  comrades,  come  ral  -  ly,  the  last  fight  let  us  face,  The  In  -  ter  -  na-tion- 


IJ  jjujj  ¥Mmm 


*J     al  -  i,      U  -  nites  the  hu  -  ma 


22 


man  race,  Then,  comrades,  come  ral  -  ly,     The 


Investigation  or  Propaganda  ?       57 

J- 


Zfc* 


I      hi      I 


B=ffl 


J  Ji  J 


sfefe 


a:=^r 


«>  last  fight  let  us  face,  The  In-ter-na-tion  -  al     -      e     U-nites  the  human  race. 


These  kings  defile  us  with  their  powder, 

We  want  no  war  within  the  land  ; 

Let  soldiers  strike  :  for  peace  call  louder, 

Lay  down  arms  and  join  hand  in  hand. 

Should  these  vile  monsters  still  determine, 

Heroes  to  make  us  in  despite  ; 

They'll  know  full  soon  the  kind  of  vermin 

Our  bullets  hit  in  this  last  fight  ! 

Chorus  :  Then  comrades,  etc. 


CHAPTER  V 
The  Communists 

ACCOMPANYING  the  British  Delegation 
were  two  British  journalists,  one  repre- 
senting a  great  Liberal  daily  and  the  other  a  well- 
known  Radical  weekly  journal.  At  Reval  we  were 
joined  by  an  American  writer.  Later  a  French 
and  an  Italian  journalist  were  added  to  the  number. 
Later  still  came  a  German  writer  on  the  scene  ; 
and  in  addition  a  considerable  number  of  Swedes 
and  Norwegians  who  had  come  to  Russia  to  make 
a  special  study  of  industrial  life,  with  a  view  to 
organising  assistance  from  Sweden  of  the  various 
big  constructive  plans  contemplated  by  the 
Russian  Government.  We  were  all  housed  under 
the  same  roof,  fed  at  the  same  tables,  carried  about 
in  the  same  fleet  of  automobiles  and  subjected  to 
the  same  supervision  during  the  visit  to  Petrograd 
and  Moscow. 

Radios  sent  out  by  delegates  and  journalists 
were  censored  by  the  Authorities,  who  have  sole 
control  of  all  the  means  of  communication  with 
the  outer  world,  a  very  natural  state  of  affairs  in 

58 


The  Communists  59 

a  country  at  war  with  so  many  enemies.  Very 
natural,  also,  is  it  that  in  this,  as  in  other  ways, 
the  Russian  Government  should  exactly  copy 
the  methods  of  other  Governments  in  selecting 
for  world-distribution  those  messages  which  tell 
in  its  favour.  It  must  certainly  be  conceded  in 
their  behalf  that  never  in  the  history  of  mankind 
has  the  public  Press  been  used  to  pervert  the 
truth  and  exaggerate  the  evil  more  than  for  the 
purposes  of  destroying  the  detested  Communist 
regime. 

But  of  this  monopoly  of  the  wires  by  the 
Government  we  were  ourselves  occasionally  the 
victims,  the  smiling  and  amused  victims  I  may 
say  ;  as  when  a  fiery  speech  on  true  Bolshevist 
lines  by  an  eloquent  Britisher,  unable  to  resist 
his  atmosphere,  was  flashed  around  the  world, 
whilst  a  more  sober  utterance  was  treated  with 
contemptuous  disregard. 

I  remember  one  little  incident  which  caused 
those  of  us  who  were  aware  of  it  the  greatest 
entertainment  as  evidencing  the  methods  of  some 
of  the  more  timid  and  consequently  the  more 
autocratic  of  the  Communists.  The  representa- 
tive of  the  Daily  News  and  the  American 
journalist  wished  to  extend  their  trip  on  the 
Volga  and  to  go  down  to  Astrakhan.  To  do  this 
it  was  necessary  to  have  permission  from  the 
Foreign  Office.    They  drew  up  a  telegram  and 


60         Through  Bolshevik  Russia 

handed  it  to  the  Commissioner  in  charge  of  our 
party,  who  smilingly  assured  them  that  the  tele- 
gram should  be  sent  and  that  they  might  expect 
the  reply  in  a  few  hours.  They  waited.  The 
point  at  which  the  Delegation  was  to  leave  the 
ship  and  return  to  Moscow  was  reached.  They 
approached  the  Commissioner  and  asked  him  if 
there  were  any  news  for  them. 

"  The  message  was  sent  at  once,  but  no  reply 
has  come  ;  therefore  it  is  impossible  for  you  to 
stay  on  the  ship  "  he  replied  in  good  French* 
lying  without  a  wink.  Their  message  had  never 
been  sent  to  Moscow  ! 

Red  Petrograd  is  very  proud  of  its  name.  The 
reason  why  it  is  "  redder  "  than  Moscow  is  due 
in  all  probability  to  the  fact  that,  as  the  capital 
city  and  the  place  of  residence  of  the  Czars,  it  has 
been  the  scene  of  more  revolutionary  propaganda 
and  anarchist  intrigues  than  any  other  single  city 
in  the  wide  dominions  of  Russia.  Add  to  this  the 
terrors  of  the  blockade,  the  invasion  by  Judenitch, 
who  crept  very  close  to  the  city,  and  the  very 
fearful  sufferings  of  Petrograd  during  the  war  and 
there  is  sufficient  to  explain  the  more  terrible 
reaction.  The  marked  despotism  and  even 
cruelty  of  the  men  in  power  in  Petrograd  became 
noticeable  to  us  before  we  left.  A  brief  conversa- 
tion with  one  Communist  there  lingers  in  my 
mind. 


The  Communists  61 

"  There  is  a  rivalry  between  Moscow  and 
Petrograd,"  he  informed  me  "  which  threatens 
to  become  something  very  serious." 

"  Very  much  like  the  rivalry  between  Man- 
chester and  Liverpool  or  Lancashire  and  York- 
shire, I  suppose  ?  "  was  my  reply. 

"  Not  in  the  very  least "  was  his  answer. 
"  Perhaps  rivalry  is  not  the  right  word.  Rather 
is  it  a  conflict  ;  or  only  a  rivalry  in  the  sense  of 
striving  to  keep  the  Communist  ideal  untarnished." 

I  was  interested,  and  bade  him  continue. 

"  There  are  certain  elements  in  Moscow  which 
are  still  tainted  with  the  spirit  of  compromise. 
Even  Lenin  himself  is  not  above  suspicion. 
There  is  a  great  and  growing  opposition  to  Lenin 
in  Red  Petrograd.  We  do  not  like  his  tenderness 
for  the  interests  of  foreign  concessionaires.  We 
do  not  approve  of  the  toleration  shown  in  Moscow 
to  the  counter-revolutionary  Mensheviks  and 
Social  Revolutionaries.  It  is  necessary  we  yield 
nothing  to  those  who  are  not  fully  with  us  in  our 
programme  and  our  methods.  These  traitors 
will  undermine  the  fabric  of  the  Communist 
Republic.  Lenin  himself  must  go  if  this  is  his 
way." 

The  man  was  a  bitter  and  gloomy  fanatic. 
But  his  words  were  interesting.  "  You  do  not 
suggest  that  Lenin  is  seeking  compromise  for 
his  own  ends,  do  you  ?  "  I  asked,  unwilling  that 


62         Through  Bolshevik  Russia 

anything  so  squalid  should  fasten  itself  to  the 
reputation  of  one  of  the  most  amazing  personali- 
ties the  war  has  produced.  I  was  promptly 
reassured  on  that  point. 

"  Oh,  no,  indeed  no,"  was  his  answer.  "  Lenin 
is  pure.  He  seeks  nothing  for  himself.  But  he  is 
making  mistakes.  The  influences  in  Moscow  are 
not  good.  Here  we  are  strong.  Red  Petrograd 
is  different  from  Moscow." 

So  I  learnt  first,  and  afterwards  was  confirmed 
in  the  knowledge,  that  there  are  several  varieties 
of  Communists  in  Russia,  and  that  to  criticise 
those  in  power  at  present  is  not  by  any  means  to 
be  an  opponent  of  Communism.  Everybody  is 
behind  the  Government  at  present,  because  of 
the  war.  Soldiers  and  statesmen  of  the  old  regime 
who  have  not  fled  ;  literary  men  like  Gorky  ; 
bourgeois  citizens  who  remain  in  Russia  are 
serving  the  Government,  and  every  variety  of 
Socialist,  hating  the  methods  of  the  Communist 
with  a  deadly  hatred,  is  none  the  less  tacitly  behind 
it  so  long  as  the  country  is  in  danger  from  outside 
aggression. 

Men  like  Kameneff,  Sverdloff  and  Krassin,  who 
hold  high  and  responsible  positions  in  the  State 
service,  good  and  sincere  Communists,  would 
not  rise  to  power  nor  maintain  their  position  by 
indiscriminate  slaughter  and  brutal  methods  of 
tyranny,  but  having  faith  in  the  ultimate  triumph 


The  Communists  63 

of  their  principle,  would  establish  it  through 
education  and  organisation.  That  men  of  a 
more  violent  character  hold  the  reins  of  power 
is  due,  in  my  considered  judgment,  to  the  fatal 
policy  of  the  Allies,  and  in  these  days,  of  the  Poles, 
in  seeking  to  decide  the  issue  by  the  sword.  The 
resumption  of  war  by  the  misguided  Poles  and 
the  consequent  fear  that  fell  upon  the  Russian 
people,  joined  to  a  perfectly  proper  patriotism, 
gave  that  powerful  instrument  of  tyranny,  the 
Extraordinary  Commission,  with  its  secret  police, 
the  opportunity  to  revive  itself,  and  fasten  itself 
like  the  plague  upon  terror-stricken  population 
and  frightened  administrators  alike. 

But  the  extreme  men,  with  their  gospel  of  a 
world-revolution  by  violence,  and  the  dictatorship 
of  one  class  over  the  rest  of  mankind,  are  a  painful 
phenomenon.  Pure  and  unselfish  idealists  as 
many  of  them  undoubtedly  are,  and  born  out  of 
due  time,  they  are  the  terrible  progeny  of  the 
maddest  war  and  the  cruellest  "  peace  "  that  ever 
tore  civilisation  to  tatters. 

Some  work  quietly,  live  nobly,  and  starve  on 
the  rations  which  only  the  very  best  men  decline 
to  augment.  But,  for  the  most  part,  the  Commun- 
ists live  better  than  the  rest  and  form  the  new 
aristocracy.  Their  duties  are  specially  dangerous 
and  hazardous,  and  the  difference  is  justified  for 
this  reason.    If  there  is  an  epidemic  to  be  fought 


64         Through  Bolshevik  Russia 

or  special  labour  to  be  performed,  the  Communists 
are  the  first  to  be  called  upon  to  do  the  work  ; 
but  there  are  privileges  also,  as  with  the  aris- 
tocracy of  any  other  country.  Of  the  civilian 
population,  Communists  only  may  carry  arms. 
Special  food  and  clothing  privileges  are  made 
available  for  Communists.  The  children  of 
Communists  form  the  greater  number  in  the 
country  colonies  for  children.  The  way  to  pro- 
fessional advancement  and  to  positions  of  power 
and  responsibility  is  through  the  Communist 
Party.  This  fact  may  explain  the  position  within 
the  Party  of  one  able  man  with  whom  I  spoke. 
I  had  been  trying  to  convince  a  little  Communist 
lady  that  there  was  no  Communist  Party  as  such 
in  Great  Britain  and  that  the  number  of  Com- 
munists in  England  was  very  small. 

"  There  are  no  published  statistics,  but,"  I 
said,  "  I  do  not  believe  there  are  five  thousand 
Communists  in  the  whole  of  England.  I  doubt 
if  there  are  five  hundred  Communists  there  who 
have  thought  the  thing  out  to  the  very  bottom, 
and  who  give  to  Communism  anything  more  than 
an  emotional  support." 

"  And  do  you  really  think  there  are  more  than 
five  thousand  or  even  five  hundred  Communists 
of  the  better  sort  in  this  country  ?  "  was  his 
question. 

"  Indeed  I  do,"  I  replied.   "  I  believe  that  there 


The  Communists  65 

are  650,000  Communists  according  to  your  own 
published  statistics." 

"  Published  statistics  are  queer  things,"  he 
said  slowly.  "  It  is  not  easy  to  join  the  Communist 
Party.  There  is  six  months'  probation  to  be 
served.  One  has  to  have  two  guarantors.  But 
when  joining  the  Party  is  the  only  sure  way  to 
sufficient  nourishment  and  some  prospect  of 
advancement,  even  the  dangerous  duties  cannot 
deter  all  from  j  oining . "  He  shrugged  his  shoulders 
and  walked  away.  He,  along  with  the  rest  of  the 
Trade  Unionists,  had  been  ordered  under  threat 
of  penalties  to  join  the  parade  in  the  Uritzky 
Platz  which  had  been  organised  for  the  British 
Delegation. 

The  first  public  meeting  in  Petrograd  and  a 
similar  occasion  in  the  Moscow  Opera  House  were 
like  every  other  meeting  we  had  in  Russia.  The 
slight  difference  between  these  two  gatherings 
was  that  in  Petrograd  the  audience  was  restricted 
to  Trade  Unionists  as  the  hall-space  was  limited 
to  about  two  thousand,  and  the  meeting  was 
held  under  the  auspices  of  the  Unions,  whilst  in 
Moscow  the  meeting  was  open  to  the  general 
public  and  was  three  times  as  big  as  in  Petrograd. 

Speeches  were  made  by  Russians  and  British 
alternately.  At  the  Moscow  meeting  a  Men- 
shevik  was  permitted  to  speak,  and  made  a  plucky 
performance    under   very   trying    circumstances. 


66         Through  Bolshevik  Russia 

The  Russian  official  speeches  were  all  of  one 
quality  and  directed  towards  very  definite  ideas. 
These  speeches  soon  became  so  familiar  that  we 
learnt  to  anticipate  the  phrases.  When  a  little 
boy  of  ten  was  brought  forward  at  one  of  the 
schools  to  repeat  to  us  his  Communist  lesson,  we 
recognised  the  words  Of  the  father  on  the  lips  of 
the  child.  There  was  the  same  talk  of  the  dic- 
tatorship of  the  working  masses,  the  same  pas- 
sionate appeal  to  the  British  workers  to  drop 
their  old  method  and  march  into  the  streets 
and  to  the  barricades,  the  same  prophecies  of  a 
world-revolution,  the  same  sneers  at  those  who 
hope  to  achieve  their  object  by  peaceful  and 
democratic  means,  the  same  wearisome  exclama- 
tory phrases  at  the  end.  "  Long  live  the  Soviet 
Republic  !  "  "  Long  live  the  Workers  Revolu- 
tion !  "  "  Long  live  the  international  solidarity 
of  Labour  !  "  Admirable  phrases  were  some  of 
these,  but  incongruous  in  the  mouth  of  a  pale 
little  fellow  of  ten,  undersized  on  his  cabbage 
soup  and  black  bread  ;  and  unspeakably  funny 
tripping  from  the  unaccustomed  lips  of  sober- 
speeched  Britons,  anxious  not  to  be  outdone  in 
the  delivery  of  explosive  perorations.  "  Long 
live  Soviet  Russia ! "  "  Long  live  the  Russian 
Communist  Party !  "  "  Long  live  the  Workers 
Revolution  !  " 
A  few  phrases  from  the  speeches  of  the  Russian 


The  Communists  67 

orators  will  illustrate  the  kind  of  message  they 
wished  to  give  us  and  will  show  the  misunder- 
standing of  our  mission  and  of  the  state  of  the 
Labour  Movement  in  Great  Britain  of  which 
I  wrote  in  a  previous  chapter.  To  take  the  follow- 
ing sentences  from  a  speech  delivered  by  Zipero- 
vitch,  of  the  Trades  Union  Council  of  the  Province 
of  Petrograd : 

;<  It  is  with  a  feeling  of  deep  satisfaction  that 
the  Russian  Trades  Union  Council  notices  that 
the  mighty  pressure  of  the  British  Revolutionary 
Movement  has  at  last  made  the  Government  of 
Lloyd  George  give  up  the  police  methods  (as  the 
refusal  of  passports)  so  degrading  to  the  British 
proletariat." 

Was  it,  I  wonder,  the  "  mighty  pressure  of 
the  British  Revolutionary  Movement  "  which 
accomplished  this  ?  Or  was  it  due  to  the  Prime 
Minister's  desire  to  begin  the  movement  for 
happier  relations  with  Russia  ?  Take  another 
phrase  : 

"  I  am  deeply  convinced  that  the  visit  of  our 
British  comrades  is  a  promising  symbol  of  the 
great  moral  upheaval  in  that  country." 

Knowing  as  I  did  the  ideas  about  the  British 
Labour  Movement  they  have  in  mind  in  Russia, 
I  felt  it  incumbent  upon  me  for  the  sake  of  the 
Russians  themselves,  to  disabuse  them  of  the 
notion   that   there   is   any   evidence    worthy    of 


68         Through  Bolshevik  Russia 

the  name  to  show  that  the  British  workers  are 
within  appreciable  distance  of  using  Communist 
methods  of  violence  for  what,  in  some  respects, 
is  a  oneness  of  ultimate  ideal  ;  but  that  history, 
tradition,  temperament,  training  and  the  great 
fact  of  our  comparative  freedom  and  prosperity 
all  precluded  the  hope  on  their  part  of  entering 
together  upon  the  last  decisive  fight  for  world 
revolution. 

From  the  speech  of  Losowsky,  also  a  Trade 
Union  leader,  I  have  selected  the  following  phrases 
to  show  the  aim  of  the  Bolshevik  leaders  : 

"  The  Labour  movement  of  Russia  stands 
determinedly  and  definitely  for  the  Social  Revolu- 
tion and  the  Dictatorship  of  the  Social  Revolution 
and  the  dictatorship  of  the  proletariat. " 

"  The  working  class  has  taken  the  power  into 
its  own  hands  and  with  fire  and  sword  annihilates 
all  who  seek  to  turn  Russian  history  backward.'* 

"  No  compromise.  Merciless  war  on  the 
bourgeoisie  to  the  victorious  end." 

The  terrible  danger  of  this  inflammatory  talk 
lies  in  the  fact  that  the  deeds  of  the  Communists 
in  power  march  with  their  words,  and  as  every 
person  who  ventures  to  disagree  in  the  slightest 
particular  with  the  principles  of  the  Party  is 
regarded  as  a  traitor,  he  comes  under  the  sus- 
picion of  the  Authorities  and  goes  about  daily 
in  fear  of  being  denounced  and  punished  as  a 
counter-revolutionary . 


The  Communists  69 

But  for  many  of  these  bitter  men,  much  excuse 
may  be  made  when  the  facts  of  their  lives  are 
known.  Many  of  them  have  been  the  greatest 
sufferers  from  the  tyranny  of  the  Czardom. 
Many  of  them  have  had  long  terms  of  imprison- 
ment or  exile,  have  suffered  from  the  knout  or 
the  bayonet,  have  been  sentenced  to  death  and 
escaped,  or  have  lost  health  and  happiness  in 
Siberian  wilds.  Six  years  in  solitary  confinement 
does  not  tend  to  sweeten  a  man's  outlook  on  life. 
Fourteen  years  in  the  fortress  of  St.  Peter  and  St. 
Paul,  with  the  daily  terror  of  being  taken  out  of 
his  cell  and  shot,  does  not  make  for  sweetness 
and  light.  Outrage  and  torture  of  women  very 
naturally  hardens  them  and  forms  into  a  thin 
cruel  line  many  of  the  lips  made  to  press  tender 
kisses  on  the  foreheads  of  little  children.  Very 
few  of  the  Communist  leaders  of  Russia  there 
are  who  have  not  had  to  endure  one  or  all  of  these 
hideous  experiences.  That  they  should  be  in- 
fected, unconsciously  to  themselves,  by  the  virus 
of  cruelty  is  not  to  be  wondered  at.  And  the 
greater  part  of  the  blame  for  all  that  has  happened 
and  is  happening  to  the  opponents  of  unadult- 
erated Communism  must  be  laid  upon  the 
shoulders  of  those  who,  by  promoting  wars,  civil 
and;  foreign,  have  made  their  task  of  government 
impossibly  hard. 


CHAPTER  VI 

The  Artistic  Life  of  Russia 

\  LMOST  everybody  in  Russia  is  hungry  and 
JTjl  cold,  and  many  surface  critics  in  Russia 
blame  the  Government  for  conditions  for  which 
they  cannot  be  held  in  any  great  degree  respon- 
sible. It  is  perfectly  true  that  in  the  beginning, 
Committee  management  of  an  industry  some- 
times brought  that  industry  to  a  full  stop.  Kam- 
eneff  is  reported  by  Arthur  Ransome  to  have 
explained  the  non-working  of  certain  excellent 
soap  factories  on  the  double  ground  of  lack  of 
material  and  "  because  some  crazy  fool  imagined 
that  to  take  an  inventory  you  must  bring  every- 
thing to  a  standstill ."  *  *  Establish  a  Commission , ' ' 
he  had  previously  said,  "  and  soap  instantly  dis- 
appears. But  put  in  one  man  to  see  that  soap  is 
forthcoming,  and  somehow  or  other  we  get  it." 
The  greater  part  of  the  blame  for  the  hunger  and 
privation  must  be  placed  upon  those  who  made 
the  wars  which  have  afflicted  Russia  so  long. 

Nobody  can  criticise  the  Government  on  one 
point,  and  that  their  protection  and  encourage- 
ment of  Art.    The  most  grudging  in  his  praise 

70 


The  Artistic  Life  of  Russia        71 

must  perforce  admit  that  the  Bolsheviki  have 
shown  their  wisdom  in  leaving  undamaged  up  to 
the  present  the  artistic  side  of  Russian  life  ; 
whilst  the  just  will  give  them  credit  for  fostering 
Art  by  taking  special  care  of  the  artists  and  by 
bringing  it  within  the  reach  of  the  poorest  classes 
in  the  community,  hitherto  totally  shut  out  from 
the  best  and  finest  which  Art  can  give. 

The  concert  halls  and  theatres  of  Petrograd 
and  Moscow  are  crowded  every  night.  The 
British  Delegation  were  taken  several  times  to 
the  most  wonderful  performances  of  plays  and 
operas  it  has  been  the  lot  of  most  of  them  to  see. 
I  have  myself  seen  operatic  performances  in 
several  European  capitals,  London  and  New 
York.  It  is  true  that  the  orchestra  in  Vienna  is 
finer.  "  Die  Gotterdammerung  "  as  performed  in 
Berlin  excites  the  greatest  admiration.  Chaliapine 
himself  has  thrilled  immense  audiences  in  Covent 
Garden.  The  singing  and  orchestration  in  the 
two  great  Russian  cities  were  very  fine  indeed, 
perhaps  not  so  fine  as  special  performances  in 
the  other  European  capitals  in  happier  circum- 
stances. But  in  the  mere  technique  of  production 
I  have  seen  nothing  to  equal  the  Russian  perform- 
ances. Not  a  detail  had  been  neglected,  not  a 
dress,  nor  a  colour,  nor  a  pose  unstudied.  The 
lighting  effects  were  astonishing.  Here,  a  moon 
gave  a  moon's  light,  and  a  daybreak  came  as 


72         Through  Bolshevik  Russia 

gently  and  softly  as  in  Nature,  and  not  with  the 
suddenness  of  breaking  china. 

In  Petrograd  we  saw  two  performances,  one 
Gluck's  "  Orpheus  "  and  the  other  Bizet's  "  Car- 
men." In  addition  we  had  an  hour  at  the  ballet 
on  our  way  to  the  railway  train  and  Moscow. 
The  ballet  is  known  in  London  for  the  exquisite 
thing  it  is.  A  special  interest  for  us  in  Petrograd 
was  the  inclusion  in  the  caste  of  gifted  proletarian 
children,  whose  dancing  did  nothing  to  lower  the 
standard  in  these  things  to  which  Russia  has 
accustomed  the  rest  of  Europe  for  so  long.  It 
was  a  very  lovely  rendering  of  the  dream  of  a 
hopeless  lover  of  his  princess-bride,  who  dies  of 
grief  and  shock  when  the  vision  fades  and  he  is 
left  with  nothing  but  her  veil  of  gauze. 

Of  "  Carmen  "  I  have  seen  a  better  performance 
from  the  point  of  view  of  chorus  singing  and 
orchestral  accompaniment.  There  was  a  dis- 
turbing failure  to  keep  together  of  chorus  and 
orchestra  which  marred  an  otherwise  wonderful 
presentation  of  this  well-known  and  favourite 
opera.  But  again,  the  way  in  which  it  was  staged 
was  marvellous  beyond  all  words.  And  similarly 
with  "  Orpheus."  This  wonderful  work,  ren- 
dered with  exquisite  art,  developed  in  one  a  mood 
of  exaltation,  and  left  one  with  the  feeling  that 
here  in  the  world  of  mystery  and  imagination, 
of  passionate  and  pure  aspiration  are  the  things 


The  Artistic  Life  of  Russia        73 

which  matter  most,  and  that  the  sordid  battles  of 
political  theorists  for  intellectual  victories  and 
argumentative  triumphs  are  of  very  secondary 
importance. 

One  or  two  of  the  Delegates  went  to  the  green 
room  between  the  scenes  to  discover  how  far 
the  new  order  of  Society  was  satisfying  to  the 
artists.  One  of  the  chief  of  these  was  asked  if  he 
experienced  as  much  sympathy  and  appreciation 
from  the  new  type  of  audience  as  the  old,  and 
whether  he  liked  singing  to  the  new  as  well  as  to 
the  old.  He  replied  that  to  him  the  social  position 
of  the  members  of  his  audience  did  not  matter  ; 
that  the  mere  appendages  of  the  old-time  theatre, 
the  dresses,  the  fans,  the  flowers  and  other  frip- 
peries meant  nothing  at  all  ;  that  understanding 
and  sympathy  were  everything  to  the  singer,  and 
that  in  these  things,  there  was  no  difference 
between  the  old  and  the  new. 

The  audiences  were  certainly  very  attentive 
and  most  appreciative.  They  were  composed  in 
the  main  of  quiet  working  folk  and  professional 
men  and  women.  There  were  very  few  good 
clothes,  but  everybody  was  neat  and  tidy  except 
about  the  feet.  The  only  thing  I  noticed  which 
seemed  to  indicate  that  many  in  the  audience 
were  new  to  the  music  was  the  applause  when  the 
curtain  descended  and  before  the  orchestra 
finished.    The  "  clappers  "  were  reproved  by  the 


74         Through  Bolshevik  Russia 

more  instructed  part  of  the  audience,  and  will 
probably  learn  in  time  to  respect  the  music  till 
the  end.  And  anyhow,  I  have  seen  in  London 
theatres  exhibitions  of  bad  manners  from  people 
who  fussed  with  their  hats  and  cloaks  during  the 
last  moments  of  the  play  or  concert,  infinitely 
harder  to  endure  than  the  premature  enthusiasm 
of  the  new  opera-goers  in  Petrograd. 

Certain  nights  at  the  Opera  and  theatre  are 
reserved  for  soldiers  and  sailors,  certain  others 
for  Trade  Unionists  and  other  workers,  and  the 
remainder  are  for  the  general  public.  The  public 
pay  for  their  places,  the  workers  go  in  free.  The 
tickets  are  distributed  to  them  in  turn  through 
their  organisations.  So  great  is  the  demand  for 
tickets  that  many  people  are  able  to  sell  theirs  at 
double  the  price,  which  they  frequently  do,  pre- 
ferring the  extra  money  to  the  music  ;  whilst 
cunning  speculators  buy  up  quantities  of  tickets 
and  make  a  profitable  deal  with  them. 

But  the  outstanding  fact  remains  :  That  Opera 
and  the  best  music  and  plays  are  accessible  to  all, 
free  to  most,  and  that  Art  is  tenderly  nurtured 
under  the  Soviet  administration. 

Artists  are  able  to  command  big  salaries  in 
roubles,  which,  however,  are  not  really  big 
salaries  when  compared  with  those  offered  by 
foreign  syndicates.  Chaliapine,  we  were  told  by 
a  Commissar,  is  able  to  earn  two  hundred  thousand 


The  Artistic  Life  of  Russia        75 

roubles  in  one  night.  But  when  it  is  borne  in 
mind  that  ten  thousand  roubles  can  be  bought 
for  an  English  pound  and  that  £20  is  the 
nightly  sum  commanded  by  one  of  the  greatest 
singers  who  ever  lived,  it  is  not  so  outrageous  a 
reward  as  the  little  Commissar  appeared  to  think. 
It  is,  of  course,  very  large  when  compared  with 
the  two  thousand  to  eight  thousand  roubles 
which  (in  round  figures)  is  the  salary  scale  per 
month  of  the  Trade  Unions  of  Russia.  Some- 
times the  artists  are  paid  in  kind.  The  men  and 
women  who  sang  and  danced  for  our  entertain- 
ment at  the  dinner  in  Petrograd  were  paid  in 
white  flour,  a  much  valued  commodity  ;  and 
were  paid  well. 

During  the  big  interval  in  the  first  opera  in 
Moscow,  a  performance  of  "  Prince  Igor,"  an  in- 
teresting thing  happened  :  Trotsky  came  into  the 
anteroom  to  see  the  Delegates.  We  all  crowded 
round  him  eager  to  have  the  latest  news  from  the 
Polish  front  from  which  he  had  just  come  and  to 
which  he  was  immediately  returning.  He  had  to 
tell  of  great  victories  over  the  Poles,  and  spoke 
with  magnificent  confidence  of  overwhelming 
success  to  the  Red  armies. 

Trotsky  made  his  name  and  fame  in  Europe  as 
the  greatest  of  pacifists  and  anti-militarists  ;  but 
not  in  the  garb  of  St.  Francis  did  he  enter  our 
midst ! 


76         Through  Bolshevik  Russia 

Physically  he  is  a  remarkably  fine-looking  man ; 
a  Jew,  dark  and  keen,  with  penetrating  eyes,  and 
a  quiet  manner  suggestive  of  enormous  reserves 
of  strength.  He  was  in  an  officer's  uniform,  which 
fitted  him  extremely  well.  When  one  of  the 
Delegates  was  presented  to  him  as  a  conscientious 
objector  who  had  served  a  term  in  prison  for  his 
faith,  he  turned  quickly  and  said,  though  not 
unkindly :  "  We  can  have  nobody  here  who 
preaches  peace  and  wants  to  stop  the  war." 

The  bell  rang,  and  with  Trotsky  in  our  midst 
we  re-entered  the  box,  the  late  Czar's  place  in 
the  vast  theatre.  Trotsky  took  his  place  in  the 
middle  of  the  front  row.  I  occupied  the  seat  next 
to  him  on  his  right,  and  so  was  in  a  position  to  see 
everything  that  happened.  As  soon  as  the  great 
audience  caught  a  glimpse  of  Trotsky  it  rose  like 
one  man,  and  with  wild  enthusiasm  applauded 
its  hero  again  and  again.  Naturally  we  rose  with 
the  rest  to  pay  our  respects  to  the  man  who  was 
leading  in  his  country's  battles  and  winning  all 
the  time.  The  cheers  doubled  and  trebled. 
People  shouted  themselves  hoarse.  It  was  the 
most  spontaneous  thing  I  have  ever  seen.  It 
was  wonderful!  And  then  a  great  burly  sailor 
in  the  first  gallery  sprang  to  the  front  and  led 
both  orchestra  and  audience  in  the  singing  of  "  The 
Internationale."  It  was  the  one  great  occasion  on 
which  we  joined  in  the  singing  of  this  overworked 


The  Artistic  Life  of  Russia        77 

ditty  with  real  and  undiluted  pleasure.  This  was 
because  it  was  a  natural  bursting  into  song  of  a 
great  gathering  standing  to  welcome  its  conquering 
hero.    It  was  a  fine  occasion. 

Trotsky  speaks  only  a  very  little  English,  but 
his  French  is  fluent  and  he  was  well  understood. 
I  should  think  he  is  very  fond  of  music,  for  he 
gave  the  closest  and  most  serious  attention  to  the 
performance. 

At  one  point  in  the  performance  there  came  a 
tender  love-scene. 

"  There,"  said  Trotsky  turning  to  me  and 
speaking  in  English  for  the  first  time,  "  is  the 
great  international  language." 

"  Yes,"  I  replied,  "  you  are  right.  But  there 
is  also  another — Art.  These  two  great  inter- 
national languages  of  Love  and  Art  will  unite  the 
world  in  peace  and  happiness  at  last." 

I  should  think  Trotsky  is  a  man  of  throbbing 
vitality  and  of  strong  feeling  ;  once  of  splendid 
vision.  The  banner  of  international  peace  and 
good-will  on  the  basis  of  those  principles  after- 
wards adopted  by  President  Wilson,  raised  by 
Trotsky  at  Brest-Litovsk  and  since  trampled 
upon  by  the  militarists  of  the  world,  marked 
him  then  a  man  of  superb  ideals.  He  failed 
at  Brest-Litovsk  as  Wilson  failed  at  Paris. 
Only  when  the  nations  dream  them  can  such 
dreams  as  these  come  true. 


78         Through  Bolshevik  Russia 

The  Art  Theatre  in  Moscow  is  supposed  to 
stand  alone  in  lofty  pre-eminence  amongst  the 
world  temples  of  Art.  Men  and  women  have  come 
from  the  four  corners  of  the  world  to  see  how  the 
work  there  is  done.  We  saw  an  old  Russian 
drama  enacted  here,  "  Czar  Feodor."  It  was 
done  in  the  Russian  language,  but  so  perfect  was 
the  acting  that  the  story  unfolded  itself  easily 
before  our  eyes  ;  and,  so  far  as  an  understanding 
of  the  characters  was  concerned,  we  did  not  need 
the  few  notes  in  English  courteously  supplied  to  us 
by  the  management. 

It  is  a  small  theatre,  without  ornamentation  of 
any  kind.  The  audience  suggested  a  meeting 
of  the  Fabian  Society  in  type,  the  middle-class 
intellectual  predominating.  From  beginning  to 
end  there  was  no  applause.  It  is  the  custom. 
Such  fine  art  neither  needs  nor  desires  noisy 
approval.  So  exacting  is  the  service  of  Art  here 
that  the  Czar  himself  would  not  have  been 
admitted  before  the  interval  had  he  been  so 
discourteous  as  to  come  late. 

There  is  another  little  theatre  in  Moscow  some 
of  us  visited,  which  is  developing  along  new  lines, 
and  which  is  leading  a  revolt  against  the  old, 
dramatic  forms.  Here  we  saw  a  perfect  riot  of 
extravagant  colour  and  design  on  Futurist  lines. 
It  was  a  mad  story,  madly  told.  Not  to  this 
place  would  the  weary  worker  come  after  a  day's 


The  Artistic  Life  of  Russia        79 

hard  toil,  unless  the  orgy  of  colour,  the  almost 
savage  tilting  at  everything  normal  and  conven- 
tional in  stage-life  and  stage-production  could 
contribute  to  the  stimulation  of  tired  nerve  and 
body.  The  first  impression  was  of  a  madhouse. 
On  second  thoughts  we  rather  liked  it.  Finally, 
we  rejoiced  to  know  that  the  amiable  Director  is 
bringing  his  company  to  London  as  soon  as 
matters  can  be  satisfactorily  arranged. 

It  was  eleven  o'clock  when  we  left  this  theatre, 
but  still  fresh  and  fit  we  drove  to  a  large  house  in 
a  distant  part  of  Moscow  which  was  the  home  of  a 
Russian  countess,  but  at  present  is  called  the 
Palace  of  Arts,  a  club  for  intellectuals  of  the 
front  rank.  The  countess  is  graciously  permitted 
the  use  of  two  or  three  rooms  in  the  building,  but 
the  rest  is  open  to  the  members  of  the  club  and 
their  guests.  We  "  happened  in  "  on  a  very 
pleasant  occasion,  the  birthday  celebration  of  one 
of  Russia's  most  distinguished  living  poets,  Bel- 
mont. A  gentle  little  man,  with  grey  hair  and  a 
pleasant  smile,  he  extended  to  us  the  hand  of 
friendship  and  bade  us  welcome  in  a  warm  speech. 
One  of  us  replied  suitably,  and  we  then  settled 
down  to  listen  to  the  greetings  in  their  own  verse 
or  song  of  the  poet's  brothers  and  sisters  in  the 
craft.  All  had  something  to  give  him  besides 
their  words,  a  kiss  on  the  hand  or  the  cheek,  or  a 
nosegay  of  flowers.     It  was  very  touching.     It 


80         Through  Bolshevik  Russia 

showed  us  the  old  Art  life  of  Russia  still  living  in 
spite  of  the  awful  conditions. 

But  as  we  went  out  I  caught  sight  of  a  man 
whose  poor  knee  pushed  its  way  through  his  torn 
garment,  a  poet  whose  fine  eyes  in  a  sunken  face 
were  full  of  pain.  And  in  the  lobby  in  front  of 
me  as  I  prepared  to  descend  the  grand  old  stair- 
case was  a  woman  in  sables,  though  the  night  was 
hot,  whose  feet  were  bound  in  slippers  of  felt. 

We  drove  home  in  the  early  morning,  the  last 
light  of  sunset  contending  with  the  first  streaks  of 
dawn.  And  I  could  not  help  wishing  that  the 
Communists  would  ask  the  lady  of  the  house  to 
step  out  of  her  rooms  in  the  basement  and  consent 
to  act  as  gentle  hostess  to  these  young  and  en- 
thusiastic worshippers  of  Art  who  assembled 
nightly  in  her  house. 

The  next  day  I  discussed  with  a  young,  curly- 
headed  Communist  whose  English  was  better 
than  my  own  the  wonders  of  art  in  Moscow. 

11  Yes,  yes,"  he  said,  "  We  were  never  able  to 
have  anything  like  that  in  London.  It  cost  too 
much.  And  the  cheap  seats  were  always  full. 
It  is  very  fine  indeed.  But  let  me  whisper  some- 
thing," and  here  he  gave  a  half-rueful,  mis- 
chievous smile,  "  it  would  be  good  to  see  and 
hear  dear  old  George  Robey  again ! " 


CHAPTER  VII 
The  Military  Power  of  Russia 

IT  is  fondly  to  be  hoped  that  when  these  words 
come  to  be  printed,  peace  between  Russia 
and  Poland  will  have  been  satisfactorily  estab- 
lished. The  need  of  Europe  and  the  world  for  a 
real  peace  and  the  awful  possibilities  of  the  alterna- 
tive ought  to  be  the  subject  of  everybody's  prayer 
and  the  impulse  to  everybody's  endeavour  until 
peace  becomes  an  accomplished  fact. 

The  situation  as  it  now  stands  is  this.  The 
Russians  have  everywhere  defeated  the  Poles,  as 
they  told  us  they  would,  and  are  threatening  to 
move  on  Warsaw.  The  Poles  have  cried  to  the 
Allies  for  help.  The  Allies  have  sent  a  note  to 
Russia  asking  for  an  armistice  between  Russia  and 
Poland  on  certain  well-defined  terms.  The 
Russians  have  replied  carefully,  expressing  a 
desire  for  peace,  but  requesting  the  Poles  them- 
selves to  sue  for  it,  and  promising  them  better 
terms  than  the  Allies  themselves  suggest  in  the 
matter  of  their  boundary  line. 

The  territory  claimed  by  the  Poles  and  for 


82         Through  Bolshevik  Russia 

which  they  entered  upon  this  foolish  and  wicked 
adventure  is  an  area  of  about  four  hundred  square 
miles,  containing  a  population  which  is  not  ten 
per  cent  Polish.  The  remaining  ninety  per  cent 
do  not  wish  to  belong  to  the  Polish  Empire. 
The  claim  of  the  Poles  to  this  territory  is  of  the 
shadowiest  description  and  dates  back  to  the  time 
when  the  United  States  of  America  was  still 
a  part  of  the  British  Empire.  Undoubtedly,  the 
claim  upon  this  land  rests  upon  the  ambition  of 
the  Poles  to  make  it  a  jumping-off  ground  for 
an  imperialist  adventure  which  would  establish 
Polish  rule  from  Warsaw  to  Odessa.  No  Russian 
Government,  whatever  its  name  or  quality,  would 
accept  such  an  arrangement,  and  it  is  the  most 
natural  thing  in  the  world  that  the  insolent 
campaign  of  Poland  should  have  united  behind 
the  Soviet  Republic  every  section  of  the  Russian 
populace. 

Although  morally  and  legally  in  the  right,  and 
full  of  indignation  at  the  unworthy  part  played 
by  certain  European  statesmen  and  soldiers  in 
the  business,  who  have  either  openly  or  covertly, 
helped  and  encouraged  the  Poles,  the  Russian 
Government  has  repeatedly  made  efforts  to  con- 
clude peace,  and  has  offered  to  concede  much  of 
the  Poles'  outrageous  claim  in  order  to  secure  it. 
The  Russians  need  so  sorely  to  get  on  with  their 
work  of  internal  reconstruction  that  only  the  most 


The  Military  Power  of  Russia      83 

stupid  blunderer  could  for  a  moment  imagine 
they  were  eager  for  spoils  and  conquests.  The 
last  offer,  which  was  made  months  ago,  was  to 
accept  for  an  armistice  the  lines  now  occupied  by 
the  terrified  Poles  ;  but  it  was  refused.  The 
Allies  were  requested  to  temper  the  rapacity  of 
Poland  and  help  forward  peace,  but  no  attention 
was  paid  to  this  appeal.  And  now  the  victorious 
Russians  are  requested  to  stop  fighting,  to  make 
peace  on  terms  prepared  for  them  by  interested 
outsiders  who  have  helped  their  foes,  or  to  prepare 
to  have  brought  against  them  the  armed  power  of 
Great  Britain  and,  it  may  be,  the  rest  of  the  Allies. 
It  is  a  preposterous  situation,  in  which  only  the 
Russians  occupy  a  position  of  credit.  The  invo- 
cation of  the  League  of  Nations  by  Great  Britain, 
after  the  League  had  remained  silent,  whilst 
one  of  its  members,  Poland,  played  the  pirate,  has 
brought  still  greater  contempt  upon  that  poor 
ghost  of  the  thing  designed  to  help  mankind. 

One's  whole  sympathy  is  with  the  Russians. 
By  every  precedent  established  by  history,  by 
the  precedent  of  every  government  engaged  in 
the  recent  war,  Russia  would  be  entitled  to  march 
on  and  bid  the  Allies  do  their  worst.  But  the 
best  friends  of  Russia  must  hope  that  she  will 
avoid  the  bad  example  of  the  rest  of  Europe  and, 
in  spite  of  great  and  sore  temptation,  choose  the 
better  way. 


84         Through  Bolshevik  Russia 

When  we  were  in  Moscow,  we  noted  the  pas- 
sionate longing  of  the  people  for  peace.  It  was 
clear  that  the  majority  of  the  men  in  power  also 
wanted  peace.  But  a  minority  existed  which  was 
totally  indifferent  to  peace,  whilst  a  few  were 
glad  of  the  war,  since  it  united  the  masses  of  the 
population  behind  the  extremer  Communists  at 
the  head  of  the  State.  The  policy  towards  Poland 
will  depend  upon  which  of  the  sections  gets  its 
way.  If  the  moderate  men  win,  the  armistice  will 
be  concluded,  and  the  terms  will  be  generous. 
If  the  others  gain  the  day,  the  war  will  go  on 
until  Poland  consents  to  reform  her  Govern- 
ment on  Bolshevist  lines.  In  such  case 
Lemberg  and  Warsaw  will  be  occupied  and 
the  bourgeois  population  may  suffer  a  hard 
fate. 

But  what  an  opportunity  presents  itself  for 
reversing  the  thinking  world's  judgment  of  the 
men  who  are  managing  Russian  affairs  ;  or  if 
not  quite  reversing  it,  of  modifying  it  !  For  the 
choice  of  peace  on  fair  terms  will  prove  the  Bol- 
shevik commanders  superior  in  international 
morals  to  any  European  Government  engaged  in 
the  recent  war.  A  government  capable  of  such 
self-control  and  a  people  capable  of  such  self- 
denial  would  go  down  into  history  as  marking  a 
new  epoch.  There  would  be  a  new  faith  in  ideal- 
ism born  to  Europe,  which  would  help  to  undo  the 


The  Military  Power  of  Russia      85 

cruel  wrong  to  Faith  and  Hope  dealt  by  the 
treaties  miscalled  of  Peace. 

Our  experience  of  Russia  fills  us  with  mingled 
fear  and  hope.  During  the  last  two  and  a  half 
years  of  bitter  fighting  the  Russian  Government 
has  trained  and  equipped  a  magnificent  army. 
Its  navy  is  utterly  devoted  to  it.  In  a  sense  the 
Revolution  is  the  child  of  the  navy,  for  the 
sailors  brought  the  thing  to  birth.  It  is  not 
possible  to  estimate  the  exact  number  of  men  in 
the  active  forces,  but  it  is  very  large  indeed,  and 
it  is  a  very  different  army  from  the  ragged,  ignorant, 
ill-equipped  forces  of  the  Czar,  cheated  and  abused 
by  corrupt  generals  and  politicians. 

In  Petrograd  we  witnessed  an  enormous  display 
of  Reserve  Troops,  numbering  not  less  than 
fifty  thousand,  in  the  Uritzky  Platz,  which  is  the 
new  name  given  to  the  great  square  opposite  the 
Winter  Palace.  Accompanying  these  troops  were 
machine  guns  and  much  of  the  regular  para- 
phernalia of  war.  The  uniforms  were  smart  and 
the  men  were  well  shod.  Two  similar  displays  in 
Moscow  took  place,  the  one  chiefly  of  young 
officers  in  training,  the  other  of  fully  trained 
officers  about  to  leave  for  the  Polish  front.  The 
oath  which  these  men  took  in  public,  and  in  the 
presence  of  the  British  Delegation,  is  translated 
as  follows  : 

'  1.  I,  son  of  the  working  people,  citizen  of  the 


86         Through  Bolshevik  Russia 

Soviet  Republic,  take  upon  myself  the  name  of  a 
warrior  of  the  Labour  and  Peasant  Army. 

"2.  Before  the  working  classes  of  Russia  and  of 
the  whole  world  I  undertake  to  carry  this  name 
with  honour,  to  follow  the  military  calling  with 
conscience  and  to  preserve  from  damage  and 
robbery  the  national  and  military  possessions  as 
the  hair  of  my  head. 

"3.  I  pledge  myself  to  submit  strictly  to  revolu- 
tionary discipline  and  to  fulfil  without  objection 
every  command  issued  by  authority  of  the  Labour 
and  Peasant  Government. 

"4.I  undertake  to  abstain  from  and  to  deter  any 
act  liable  to  dishonour  the  name  of  citizen  of  the 
Soviet  Republic  ;  moreover,  to  direct  all  my  deeds 
and  thoughts  to  the  great  aim  of  liberation  of  all 
workers. 

"5.I  pledge  myself  to  the  defence  of  the  Soviet 
Republic  in  any  danger  or  assault  on  the  part  of 
any  of  her  enemies  at  the  first  call  of  the  Labour 
and  Peasant  Government,  and  undertak;  not  to 
spare  myself  in  the  struggle  for  the  Russia  ii 
Soviet  Republic,  for  the  aims  of  Socialism  and 
the  Brotherhood  of  Nations  to  the  extent  of  my 
full  strength  and  of  my  life. 

"  6.  Should  this  promise  be  broken,  let  my  fate 
be  the  scorn  of  my  fellows.  Let  my  punishment 
be  the  stern  hand  of  revolutionary  law." 


The  Military  Power  of  Russia      87 

If  one  may  judge  by  appearances,  by  the  ex- 
pression of  their  faces,  by  the  brisk  march  and  the 
smart  response  to  the  word  of  command,  by  their 
bright  smiles  and  thundering  cheers,  the  Red 
Army  at  least  is  well  content  to  serve  the  present 
Government.  And  it  is  not  by  any  means  solely 
because  life,  except  for  those  in  the  front  lines  of 
battle,  is  more  assured  than  for  the  rest  of  the 
population.  True  it  is  that  the  army  receives  first 
attention.  It  is  well-clothed,  it  receives  one 
hundred  per  cent  of  the  food  it  needs  ;  the  small 
supply  of  medicines  goes  to  the  troops  ;  but  this 
is  the  simplest  wisdom.  The  moral  of  the  Red 
Army  is  drawn  from  its  patriotism,  and  whatever 
Government  were  in  power,  provided  it  showed 
itself  true  to  the  people  and  able  for  defence,  it 
would  make  no  difference  to  the  soldiers  if  the 
enemy  were  thundering  at  the  gate. 

Besides  the  ordinary  Reserve  Troops,  we 
witnessed  a  great  parade  of  the  Armed  Workers' 
Militia.  Every  industrial  worker  between  the 
ages  of  eighteen  and  forty  has  to  undergo  com- 
pulsory military  training  of  two-hour  drills  twice 
a  week.  In  the  parade  we  saw  were  included 
metal  workers,  building  trade  workers,  railway 
workers,  transport  workers  and  distributors  of 
food ;  women  workers,  university  graduates, 
technicians,  and  a  variety  of  others.  It  took  four 
solid  hours  for  them  to  pass  a  given  point  at  a  quick 


88         Through  Bolshevik  Russia 

march.  There  were  at  least  forty  thousand  work- 
people, of  whom  twelve  thousand  were  active  mem- 
bers of  the  Communist  party.  In  addition,  there 
were  hundreds  of  Boy  Scouts,  hundreds  of  Girl 
Guides,  hundreds  of  women.  The  women  gener- 
ally marched  in  separate  detachments,  and  carried 
no  arms  ;  but  in  many  cases  they  were  actually 
marching  with  the  men  and  dressed  in  uniform. 
We  were  informed  they  were  there  at  their  own 
special  request  that  they  might  be  trained  as 
soldiers.  There  were  one  or  two  companies  of 
nurses  in  uniform.  On  being  asked  as  they  passed 
the  stand  where  the  British  Delegation  stood  if 
they  were  prepared,  they  shouted  back  gleefully  : 
"  We  are  prepared." 

And  finally,  semi-military  and  gymnastic  train- 
ing is  given  to  the  school  children.  This  all 
shows  a  great  nation  of  one  hundred  and 
twenty-five  millions  of  people  going  through 
a  process  of  rapid  militarisation  which  may  one 
day  breed  menace  to  the  rest  of  Europe 
unless  understanding  can  be  reached  and  main- 
tained. At  Kazan,  eighty  thousand  splendidly 
trained  troops  were  got  ready  for  our  inspection  ; 
and  all  along  the  line  it  was  the  same. 

The  unwisdom  of  encouraging  this  to  go  farther 
by  constant  attacks  from  outside  is  dawning  upon 
the  mind  of  the  world  at  last  ;  but  to  revert  once 
more  to  the  fear  felt  by  some  of  the  Delegation 


The  Military  Power  of  Russia      89 

and  expressed  in  these  pages  more  than  once,  the 
question  is  this  :  Has  it  or  has  it  not  gone  too  far 
already  ?  Has  the  evident  pride  in  their  new  Red 
Army  already  bitten  deep  into  their  souls,  so  that 
every  fresh  victory  adds  a  glory  to  it  ?  A  boy  with 
a  knife  wants  to  whittle  something.  Is  it  certain 
that  even  peace-loving  Russians  may  not  be 
willing  to  allow  their  brave  men  to  advance  from 
one  conquest  to  another  in  the  hope,  either  of 
making  their  country  feared  and  respected  by  the 
other  Powers,  or  in  the  still  larger  hope  of  ac- 
complishing by  this  means  the  world-revolution 
of  which  their  leaders  dream  ? 

The  education  of  the  army  at  the  front  is  a 
wonderful  thing.  The  political  staff  there  in- 
cludes amongst  its  personnel  of  eight  hundred, 
artists,  writers,  printers  and  teachers.  University 
courses  are  provided  which  include  instruction  in 
all  branches  of  civil  reconstruction.  It  is  con- 
templated employing  many  of  these  soldiers  in 
the  Labour  Army  when  the  military  war  is  over, 
and  until  the  economic  foundations  of  the  country 
are  re-established.  At  Smolensk  there  is  a  school 
of  drama,  always  an  important  part  of  Russian 
educational  schemes. 

Twelve  thousand  Communists,  specially  chosen, 
the  very  pick  of  the  party,  have  been  drawn  from 
responsible  administrative  posts  and  sent  to  the 
front  to  receive  special  instruction  in  Red  Cross 


go         Through  Bolshevik  Russia 

work.  This  drastic  disturbance  of  so  many 
people's  lives,  and  of  the  valuable  constructive 
work  of  the  State,  is  explained  and  justified  on 
the  ground  that  the  work  at  the  front  may  be  long, 
perhaps  twelve  months,  as  they  have  to  "  get 
through  to  Germany."  It  has  been  obvious  for  a 
long  time  to  all  but  the  unimaginative  men  who 
hold  the  destinies  of  Europe  in  their  hands  that 
this  threat  about  getting  through  to  Germany  is 
not  a  light  and  foolish  boast,  but  part  of  the 
extremists'  plan.  Should  the  moral  temperature 
in  Germany  be  pressed  much  below  zero,  the 
German  junkers  might  reasonably  hope  to  find  a 
way  out  by  imitating  the  Russian  Czarist  officers 
and  throwing  in  their  lot  with  the  half-million 
Communists  of  Germany  who  would  join  them- 
selves to  the  victorious  armies  of  Trotsky. 

For  the  fact  is  that  almost  all  the  higher  com- 
mands are  held  in  Russia  by  officers  of  the  old 
regime.  General  Baltiski,  commanding  the  Volga 
area,  spoke  quite  frankly  of  the  open  and  un- 
equivocal acceptance  by  these  old  soldiers  of  the 
new  Government,  so  disgusted  were  they  with  the 
old.  We  were  informed  that  these  men  and  the 
new  working-class  officers  were  working  well  to- 
gether, and  that  the  discipline  of  the  army  was 
daily  improving. 

It  is  suggested  in  some  quarters  that  the  old 
officers  are  acting  with  Machiavellian  cunning, 


The  Military  Power  of  Russia      9* 

and  joining  the  Red  Army  in  order  to  undo  it 
at  some  favourable  opportunity.  I  must  confess 
that  in  long  talks  with  generals  and  admirals  I 
was  not  able  to  detect  the  slightest  evidence  that 
this  was  even  remotely  true.  But  if  it  were,  their 
chances  of  this  are  small  indeed.  To  every  regi- 
ment is  attached  a  regimental  political  Commissar. 
Of  the  Revolutionary  War  Council  two  members 
represent  the  Army  along  with  the  Commander- 
in-Chief,  and  to  act  with  him  there  are  two  political 
members  of  the  Council.  Put  quite  simply,  the 
chief  business  of  the  two  political  members  of 
the  Revolutionary  Council  is  to  watch  the  Chief 
Commander  ;  the  chief  business  of  each  political 
agent  is  to  note  the  behaviour  of  the  commander 
of  his  regiment.  These  political  agents  have  to 
watch  military  operations,  but  are  not  supposed  to 
interfere  with  purely  military  business  even  in 
the  event  of  an  alteration  of  plans.  If  a  serious 
matter,  or  what  he  regards  as  serious,  or  mysteri- 
ous, arises  in  connection  with  the  conduct  of  the 
Commanding  Officer,  the  political  agent  is 
supposed  to  report  the  matter  only.  But  if  it  is 
obviously  very  serious,  he  frequently  takes  the 
responsibility  of  acting,  even  to  the  point  of 
suspending  the  commander,  or  of  having  him 
shot  in  a  clear  case  of  treachery  to  the  Re- 
public. The  danger  of  this  power  lies  in  the  fact 
that  the  political  agent  is  usually  a  keen  Com- 


92         Through  Bolshevik  Russia 

munist  but  often  an  ignorant  man,  and  in  that 
other  indisputable  fact  :  that  every  utterance 
which  implies  criticism  of  the  Government,  its 
principles  or  its  policy,  is  regarded  as  counter- 
revolutionary by  the  Government's  agents. 

Discipline  in  the  Red  Army  is  of  the  most 
severe  kind,  stricter  than  in  the  old  army,  stricter 
than  in  most  armies,  particularly  strict  for 
Communist  soldiers.  For  neglecting  their  duties 
or  muddling  orders  men  are  frequently  shot. 
To  the  Commander-in-Chief,  Trotsky,  life  is  very 
cheap,  they  say.  I  wonder  if  that  is  the  reason 
why  so  many  people,  including  many  Communists, 
spoke  of  the  one-time  pacifist  as  "  that  beast 
Trotsky  "  ? 


CHAPTER  VIII 
Education  and  Religion 

THE  Communists  have  placed  at  the  head 
of  their  Education  Commissariat  a  man  of 
remarkable  character  and  great  ability.  Before 
we  went  to  Russia  reports  concerning  Lunachar- 
sky  had  encouraged  us  to  the  belief  that  in  him  we 
should  meet  a  genuine  benefactor  of  his  country. 
As  a  matter  of  fact  I  did  not  meet  him  at  all,  as 
he  was  not  in  Moscow  at  the  time  of  our  visit, 
but  travelling  in  the  south  on  business  connected 
with  his  department. 

Friends  of  his  in  Moscow  discussed  him  with 
us  and  spoke  of  the  incessant,  obvious  turmoil 
of  a  mind  wrestling  with  two  ideals,  the  one  leading 
him  back  to  the  imaginative,  romantic,  anarchist 
system  of  a  world  of  the  past,  with  its  leisured 
class  and  intellectual  aristocracy  ;  the  other  com- 
pelling him  to  the  necessity  of  bringing  organisa- 
tion and  discipline  to  bear  in  order  to  carry  out 
a  programme  of  general  communisation  in  educa- 
tion and  educational  ideal.  That  he  does  not 
allow  himself  to  be  completely  subdued  by  the 

93 


94         Through  Bolshevik  Russia 

dominating  Communist  passion  for  disciplined 
classification  and  routine,  is  shown  in  the  fact 
that  he  is  said  to  be  an  advocate  in  education  of 
what  might  be  described  as  "  Luciferism  " — his 
own  word  ;  by  which  he  means  the  habit  of 
challenging  authority,  wherever  it  shows  itself. 

Moreover,  the  Communist  Government  has 
thought  fit  to  encourage  the  artistic  proclivities  of 
the  Russian  people,  and  Art  is  by  nature  explosive 
and  rebellious. 

In  Russia  the  theatre,  the  concert,  dancing, 
drawing  and  the  rest  of  it  come  under  the  control 
of  the  Minister  of  Education,  as  one  department 
of  his  branch  of  work.  Almost  every  school  or 
children's  colony  of  any  size  has  its  theatre.  Self- 
expression  through  the  body  is  in  every  way 
encouraged. 

In  Petrograd,  education  is  in  charge  of  a  lad)' 
whose  name  is  Lilina.  She  is  the  wife  of  Zinoviev, 
the  founder,  with  Balabanov,  of  what  is  known  as 
the  Third  International,  and,  I  believe,  its  present 
secretary.  She  is  a  brisk  little  woman,  of  medium 
height,  with  a  rather  hard  face  but  capable  manner. 
She  spoke  French  with  great  fluency,  but  no 
English.  We  spent  an  interesting  half-hour  in 
her  room  in  the  great  Education  Office  before 
proceeding  to  inspect  some  of  the  schools. 

It  was  stated  that  in  Russia  education  is  free 
and  compulsory  for  all  children  up  to  the  age  of 


Education  and  Religion  95 

seventeen,  and  that  food,  clothing  and  school 
materials  are  supplied  gratis.  University  educa- 
tion is  open  to  all,  and  maintenance  allowances 
are  granted  to  workmen  and  others  who  may 
wish  to  take  the  University  course  but  whose 
means  are  limited.  They  must  show  capacity  and 
be  prepared  to  serve  the  State — two  perfectly 
reasonable  conditions. 

But  a  single  drive  through  the  city  taught  us 
that  these  regulations  are  not  universally  com- 
plied with.  On  one  occasion,  I  believe  it  was 
during  the  drive  to  the  Putiloff  Works  on  the 
extreme  edge  of  the  city,  I  observed  considerable 
numbers  of  young  children  between  the  ages  of 
five  and  fifteen  playing  in  the  streets  or  in  the 
doorways  of  houses.  I  asked  Madame  Balabanov, 
who  was  with  us,  if  she  could  explain  this. 

"  I  thought  education  in  Russia  was  compulsory, 
and  yet  I  see  innumerable  children  everywhere 
during  school  hours.  Can  you  explain  it  ?  "  was 
my  query. 

"  Oh,  yes,"  was  the  quick  reply, "  on  account  of 
your  blockade  we  are  without  the  necessary 
materials.  We  are  short  of  desks,  of  pens  and 
pencils,  of  books,  even  of  school  buildings. 
Until  trade  is  resumed  with  other  countries  we 
cannot  accommodate  all  our  children  with  the 
things  they  need.', 

"  Do  the  parents  appear  to  be  anxious  to  have 


96         Through  Bolshevik  Russia 

their  children  educated  ? "  I  asked,  specially  in- 
terested in  everything  that  concerned  education. 
"  Have  you  any  difficulty  with  them  ?  " 

"  Yes,  we  have.  Many  of  them  do  not  yet 
understand  the  value  of  education  nor  the  wisdom 
of  compulsion  in  the  matter.  We  are  slowly 
educating  the  parents  to  keep  the  law.  When 
there  are  enough  schools  for  the  children  we  shall 
bring  great  pressure  to  bear  on  the  parents." 

The  schools  we  visited  in  Petrograd  were  three, 
and  included  one  said  to  be  the  best  in  the  city. 
Considering  the  limited  resources  of  the  authori- 
ties it  was  certainly  very  good.  There  was  a  fine 
school-house,  fairly  well  equipped,  in  which  the 
children  took  their  meals.  We  sat  down  to  a 
typical  lunch.  We  had  a  large  plate  of  vegetable 
soup,  followed  by  a  herring  and  brown  bread,  with 
a  rather  dry  and  hard  piece  of  cake  and  thin  coffee 
to  follow.  The  children  are  not  given  coffee, 
but  the  rest  of  the  food  we  were  assured  was  their 
customary  diet.  It  was  much  better  than  most 
meals  eaten  by  the  people  of  Petrograd. 

The  children  slept  in  a  separate  building,  the 
boys  in  one  part  and  the  girls  in  another.  The 
little  beds  had  a  very  attractive  look,  ranged  in 
their  white  rows  ;  but  a  close  look  here  and  there 
revealed  a  pathetic  improvisation,  with  such 
inadequate  materials  as  they  had,  to  meet  the  needs 
of  the  little  pupils. 


Education  and  Religion  97 

The  children  themselves  were  with  their 
teachers  in  the  large  garden,  and  very  happy  and 
brown  they  looked.  They  were  utterly  fearless 
of  us,  and  wound  their  arms  round  our  waists  and 
kissed  us  on  the  cheek  with  the  freedom  and 
confidence  of  people  who  have  learnt  to  expect 
nothing  but  kindness  from  their  fellow- 
mortals. 

It  was  in  this  school  I  saw  M.  Kerensky's  small 
son,  and  it  was  a  great  pleasure  to  be  able  to  report 
to  his  father  that  the  little  fellow  looked  well  and 
happy. 

The  second  school  was  not  nearly  so  good. 
Here  the  children  had  a  very  ill  and  underfed 
appearance.  But  nothing  was  seen  to  indicate 
that  the  very  best  possible  was  not  being  done  for 
them.  This  also  was  a  school  in  the  country 
environs  of  Petrograd.  The  third  place  was  for 
the  special  treatment  of  defective  children.  A 
clinic  was  shown  us  with  a  certain  just  pride,  where 
skilled  scientists  devote  themselves  to  the  study 
and  treatment  of  the  imbecile,  making  an  attempt 
to  follow  the  splendid  lead  of  certain  of  the  United 
States  physicians  in  their  treatment  of  the  morally 
defective  as  sick  and  not  wicked  people. 

A  very  charming  feature  of  the  Russian  educa- 
tional system  is  the  establishment  in  all  parts  of  the 
country  of  boarding-schools  for  proletarian 
children,     which     they     describe     as  "  school 


98         Through  Bolshevik  Russia 

colonies."  The  expropriated  houses  of  wealthy 
persons  are  being  used  for  this  purpose.  The 
house-buildings  have  been  altered  and  furnished 
appropriately,  and  the  large  grounds  and  park- 
lands  frequently  attached  serve  for  the  fresh-air 
culture  of  the  children,  or  are  turned  into  farm 
lands  for  the  provision  of  milk  and  other  suitable 
produce.  Although  the  regulations  on  account  of 
the  scarcity  forbid  milk  to  children  in  towns  who 
have  passed  the  infant  years,  the  rule  is  most 
happily  broken  in  the  country  where  it  is  possible 
to  break  it ;  but  sometimes  even  in  the  country 
milk  is  very,  very  scarce,  and  I  visited  one 
children's  colony  in  Samara  where  the  despairing 
teachers  confessed  that  the  children  got  practi- 
cally no  milk  at  all. 

At  some  of  these  children's  colonies  we  had  most 
entertaining  times  with  the  children.  One  little 
fellow,  the  musical  genius  of  the  place,  gave  us 
one  of  his  original  compositions  on  the  piano.  I 
have  already  written  of  the  little  chap  who  rattled 
off  his  father's  or  his  teacher's  pet  Communist 
speech,  probably  without  understanding  a  word 
of  it.  But  at  one  place,  a  particularly  bright 
boy  of  twelve  or  thirteen  put  us  to  shame  by 
demanding  to  know  why  the  English  workers  were 
fighting  the  Russian  workers,  and  why  we  were 
trying  to  starve  Russian  children  with  our  blockade. 
This    same    lad    ringingly    demanded   that    we 


Education  and  Religion  99 

should  "  go  home  and  tell  the  British  workmen 
to  turn  their  rich  people  into  the  streets." 

And  here  is  my  sole,  real  quarrel  with  the 
sincere  and  devoted  educationists  of  Russia. 
The  great  outstanding  purpose  of  their  ordinary 
education  is  to  teach  Communism.  They  declare 
this  in  their  manifestos.  The  education  system 
has  its  truly  beautiful  artistic  side,  and  so  long  as 
that  is  not  stultified  the  soul  of  Russia  is  safe  ; 
but,  for  the  most  part,  the  Russian  system  is 
utilitarian,  with,  I  repeat,  Communism  as  its  ulti- 
mate purpose,  the  making  of  Communists  its  goal. 
I  could  quote  extensively  from  Communist  sources 
to  prove  this,  as  to  prove  other  matters  ;  and  there 
are  those  Socialists  who  would  justify  it.  But  I 
have  been  interested  in  education  all  my  life,  and  I 
feel  very  strongly  that  it  is  a  wrong  to  a  child  to 
bend  its  mind  towards  any  special  theories, 
Communist  or  other.  To  teach  a  child  to  read  and 
write ;  to  think  and  observe ;  to  sift  and  weigh 
evidence  ;  to  create  in  it  a  love  of  beauty  and  a 
passion  for  truth  ;  to  develop  in  it  gracious 
manners  and  a  consideration  for  others — this  it 
seems  to  me  is  the  whole  of  the  law  and  the 
prophets  so  far  as  educational  ideal  is  concerned. 

It  may  be  taken  as  a  general  rule,  however, 
that  in  Bolshevist  Russia  the  children  are  given 
very  serious  consideration.  After  the  needs  of 
the  army  have  been  served  come  those  of  the 


ioo        Through  Bolshevik  Russia 

children.  The  army  very  naturally  gets  ioo  per 
cent  of  its  needs  in  food  satisfied.  Then  come  the 
children,  who  are  better  fed  than  the  adults, 
which  means  in  fact  that  a  very  large  part  of  the 
adult  population  of  the  towns  gets  not  more  than 
25  per  cent  of  its  needs  in  food  unless  it  can 
supplement  the  ordinary  Government  rations.  A 
modification  of  this  appalling  state  of  things  lies 
in  the  fact  that  part  of  a  man's  wage  is  paid  in 
kind,  and  that  in  addition  to  his  roubles  he  gets 
food.  Otherwise,  the  extravagant  nonsense  of 
prejudiced  newsmongers  might  come  true,  and 
corpses  be  found  lying  about  the  streets  of  Moscow 
and  Petrograd. 

A  noteworthy  and  admirable  feature  of  the 
educational  system  is  the  school  for  Adult  Educa- 
tion. These  schools  are  springing  up  everywhere. 
It  is  realised  that  the  greater  part  of  the  Russian 
people  are  illiterate,  and  the  defect  is  sought  to  be 
remedied  by  giving  the  older  folk  opportunities  of 
attending  all  sorts  of  evening  classes.  We  visited 
one  of  these  adult  evening  schools,  and  saw 
grown  men  and  women  with  young  people  and 
children  join  together  in  singing,  dancing  and 
dramatic  performances  ;  saw  their  sewing  and 
their  painting,  their  sculpture  and  their  design  ; 
and  without  being  a  Communist  one  could  heartily 
congratulate  those  who  were  responsible  for 
bringing  so  much  light  and  happiness  into  the 


Education  and  Religion         101 

lives  of  men  and  women  for  whom  these  good 
things  had  been  unattainable  in  the  past. 

The  perfect  pleasure  of  this  occasion  was  once 
more  marred  by  one  of  those  incidents,  become 
painfully  numerous  by  this  time.  I  was  asked  by 
a  young  Communist  if  I  would  take  a  letter  to  his 
relative  in  Berlin  :  "  But  please,"  he  said,  "  I 
will  not  hand  it  to  you  openly  or  it  would  be 
necessary  to  explain  and  there  might  be  trouble.' ' 
How  I  got  the  letter,  I  shall  not  disclose  ;  but  I 
handed  it  to  its  owner  in  the  hotel  in  Berlin, 
who  rejoiced  with  mingled  tears  and  smiles  to 
learn  that  her  loved  one  was  alive  and  well. 

The  education  of  village  children  is  at  present, 
even  in  design,  more  modest  and  less  complete 
than  that  of  town  children.  It  is  carried  on  during 
the  winter  months  only,  as  the  children  are  re- 
quired for  field  work  in  the  summer  ;  and  it  is 
given  to  children  between  the  ages  of  eight  and 
thirteen  only.  Some  day  it  is  hoped  to  educate 
everybody,  but  the  official  estimate  of  the  number 
of  children  actually  in  receipt  of  education  is  about 
25  per  cent  of  the  whole.  This  is  probably  a 
very  generous  estimate,  as  is  the  estimate  that 
two  million  children  are  being  housed  and  fed  at 
the  expense  of  the  State  in  children's  boarding 
schools  and  colonies.  If  the  statement  which 
was  made  to  us  is  even  approximately  true,  that 
one  child  in  three  in  Russia  is  without  either  one 


102        Through  Bolshevik  Russia 

parent  or  both,  it  is  a  sad  reflection  on  modern 
civilisation,  and  should  be  an  added  spur  to  the 
resolve  to  make  peace  as  soon  as  possible  so  that 
no  more  children  may  be  orphaned. 

The  State  has  taken  religious  teaching  out  of 
the  schools,  which,  to  men  and  women  in  England 
who  have  seen  in  the  quarrels  of  sectarians  a 
real  barrier  to  progress  in  education,  may  have 
some  merit  in  it.  But  the  Communists  have  gone 
further.  The  use  of  the  word  God  is  forbidden 
to  the  teachers.  Holy  pictures  and  ikons  are  not 
supposed  to  be  used,  but  actually  are  used,  and 
the  authorities  do  not  think  it  wise  to  interfere. 
At  the  head  of  almost  every  little  bed  in  the 
children's  dormitories  was  a  picture  of  Jesus  or 
of  the  Holy  Mother  ;  in  the  Putiloff  Works  large 
ikons  stood,  some  covered  up  it  is  true,  but  others 
undraped.  The  view  of  the  Communist  leaders 
on  this  matter  is  well-expressed  in  their  mani- 
festos. They  declare  that  "  religion  was  one  of 
the  means  by  which  the  bourgeoisie  maintained 
their  tyranny  over  the  working  masses  ;  that  the 
Russian  Communist  party  must  be  guided  by 
the  conviction  that  only  the  realisation  of  class- 
conscious  and  systematic  social  and  economic 
activity  of  the  masses  will  lead  to  the  disappearance 
of  religious  prejudices."  They  declare  that  "  the 
aim  of  the  party  is  finally  to  destroy  the  ties 
between  the  exploiting  classes  and  organisations 


Education  and  Religion         103 

for  religious  propaganda,  at  the  same  time  helping 
the  working  class  actually  to  liberate  its  mind 
from  religious  superstitions,  and  organising  on  a 
wide  scale  secular  and  anti-theological  propaganda. 
It  is,  however,  necessary  to  avoid  offending 
religious  susceptibilities  of  believers  which  leads 
only  to  the  strengthening  of  religious  fanaticism." 
The  last  phrase  explains,  doubtless,  why  there 
is  no  interference  with  attendence  at  church  ;  and 
it  is  certainly  to  be  noted  that  the  churches  are 
crowded  to  the  doors  and,  apparently,  most  of 
the  time.  Some  hope  and  believe  that  the  separa- 
tion of  State  and  Church  and  the  obligation 
placed  upon  believers  to  maintain  their  own 
churches  out  of  their  own  pockets  will  have  this 
good  effect  at  least :  that  the  quality  of  religious 
preaching  will  improve  and  the  standard  of 
the  ministry  be  raised.  If  the  poor  duped  popu- 
lace can  be  successfully  delivered  from  the 
brigandage  and  trickery  of  unscrupulous  and 
avaricious  priests,  of  whom  there  has  been  a 
great  host  in  the  past,  it  will  be  a  benefit  not  only 
to  the  suffering  people  but  to  the  cause  of  true 
religion  itself.  And  what  I  describe  as  "  true 
religion,"  the  living  spirit  of  goodness  in  the 
hearts  and  minds  of  men,  is  growing  in  the  very 
land  where  God  is  regarded  as  counter-revolu- 
tionary and  banished,  officially,  as  a  traitor  to 
mankind.    Not  by  the  decrees  of  Lenin  nor  of 


104       Through  Bolshevik  Russia 

any  other  person  will  that  which  is  rooted  in  the 
nature  and  needs  of  men  be  cast  out — the  need  of 
worship  and  the  aspiration  after  the  ideal. 

The  Communists  realise  that  "  Logicians  may 
reason  about  abstractions  but  the  great  mass  of 
men  must  have  images,"  to  this  extent,  at  least, 
that  they  have  placed  in  every  school  and  public 
building  portraits  and  busts  of  Karl  Marx  and 
Lenin.  The  only  time  some  of  us  saw  Lenin  he 
was  sitting  for  the  sculptor,  who  was  busy  pre- 
paring his  new  graven  image  !  And  whether  they 
realise  it  or  not,  it  remains  the  fact  that  the  Com- 
munists have  not  destroyed  religion.  They  have 
simply  changed  the  creed.  And  for  the  Inquisi- 
tion, with  its  thumb-screws  and  its  flaming 
faggots,  the  Extraordinary  Commission  supplies 
an  adequate  substitute ! 


CHAPTER  IX 
Off  to  Moscow 

OFF  to  Moscow  at  last,  the  city  of  our  dreams  ! 
I  have  not  told  one  half  of  our  adventures 
in  Petrograd.  It  is  not  possible  to  do  so.  The 
tour  of  the  great  Putiloff  Works  was  of  enormous 
interest,  and  may  be  referred  to  in  a  later  part  of 
the  narrative.  Our  visit  to  the  gloomy  fortress 
of  St.  Peter  and  St.  Paul  at  midnight  had  a 
mournful  fascination  for  those  who  have  steeped 
themselves  in  the  lore  of  the  martyrs  of  the  Revolu- 
tion. The  old  keeper  of  the  cells  is  still  there, 
impassive  and  unresponsive  as  a  man  of  such 
responsibilities  might  well  be,  as  quietly  content 
to  serve  the  new  order  as  the  old,  human  enough 
to  be  pleased  that  no  one  occupied  his  quarters  at 
the  time  of  our  visit.  We  saw  the  large,  damp, 
gloomy  cells,  twice  as  big  as  the  cells  of  an  English 
prison,  whose  sole  claim  to  comfort  lay  in  the 
provision  in  each  cell  of  running  water  and  a 
sanitary  convenience.  These  things  were  not, 
of  course,  in  the  punishment  cells,  which  were 
entirely  dark  and  partly  under  water.    The  high- 

105 


106        Through  Bolshevik  Russia 

walled,  narrow  gully,  where  prisoners  were  taken 
to  be  shot,  from  which  no  sound  could  penetrate 
to  the  outer  world,  sent  thrills  of  cold  horror  down 
our  backs.  The  ingenious  methods  of  torture 
made  us  physically  sick.  Altogether  it  was  a 
gruesome  experience,  unrelieved  of  its  sad  associa- 
tions by  the  humorous  writings  on  the  wall  of 
British  prisoners  temporarily  incarcerated  on 
suspicion  of  promoting  counter-revolutionary 
activity. 

Off  to  Moscow  !  The  city  of  golden  domes 
and  spires  !  So  different  from  Peter  the  Great's 
city  of  the  marshes,  new  and  splendid  though  that 
is,  with  the  broad  Neva  to  add  to  its  beauty. 

The  same  comfortable  train  took  us  there  in 
thirteen  hours.  Usually  it  takes  longer  ;  but 
orders  had  come  through  that  we  must  be  in 
Moscow  by  noon  the  day  following,  and  we  were 
there  to  a  minute.  The  crowds  which  met  us  in 
the  railway  station  and  lined  the  approaches  to 
the  station  beggar  description,  both  for  their  size 
and  the  warmth  of  their  reception.  Here  was 
an  open-hearted,  generous  lot  of  people,  to  whom 
we  felt  drawn  from  the  very  first  minute.  It  did 
not  take  long  to  sense  a  difference  between  these 
folk  and  those  we  had  just  left.  There  was  less 
of  strain  and  torment  here,  more  of  human 
jolliness  and  kindliness  ;  less  of  the  burning 
fever  of  revolution,  more  of  its  constructive  hope. 


Off  to  Moscow  107 

The  representatives  of  the  Soviets  and  the 
Trade  Unions  met  us.  The  bands  played  merrily, 
the  flags  and  banners  waved  briskly  and  gleamed 
brightly.  The  usual  speeches  of  welcome  were 
made  and  properly  acknowledged.  And  then  we 
left  in  the  fleet  of  motor-cars  provided  for  us  to 
the  large  and  commodious  Hotel  Delavoy  Dvor, 
a  whole  floor  of  which  had  been  devoted  to  our 
use.  Special  passes  were  handed  to  us  at  the 
station  which  admitted  us  to  all  the  public  build- 
ings of  the  Government,  and  we  prepared  our- 
selves for  a  useful  and  strenuous  time. 

The  hotel  in  which  we  were  lodged  was  a 
modern  business  men's  place  taken  over  by  the 
Government  with  the  rest  of  Moscow's  great 
public  buildings.  It  stands  at  the  entry  to  a 
large  square  and  is  within  a  good  stone's  throw  of 
the  Kremlin.  Our  quarters  were  very  comfort- 
able, almost  luxurious,  with  substantial  furnish- 
ings and  good  beds  ;  but  alas  for  the  scriptural 
injunction  :  ' '  Thou  shalt  not  be  afraid  for  the  terror 
by  night  nor  for  the  pestilence  that  walketh  in 
darkness  !  "  A  new  "  Red  Army  "  left  its  trail  of 
blood  along  our  pillows,  one  which,  after  the 
first  night,  drove  us  from  our  beds  to  the  refuge 
of  the  more  comfortable  sofas.  I  give  my  word, 
there  are  more  crawling  things  in  that  Moscow 
hotel  than  I  had  imagined  were  contained  in  the 
whole  universe  !     Not  in  ones,  nor  twos,  but  in 


io8       Through  Bolshevik  Russia 

battalions,  they  came,  making  the  night  hideous. 
Soon  their  slain  bodies  began  to  make  effective 
patterns  upon  the  wall-paper  ;  but  they  had  the 
advantage  of  numbers  and  we  were  compelled 
to  yield  to  superior  forces,  and  give  up  the 
attempt  to  annihilate  them. 

Moscow  is  indeed  the  real  Russian  city,  semi- 
oriental  in  type.  The  number  of  its  churches  is 
amazing,  and  their  vari-coloured  domes  and 
cupolas  glittered  beautifully  in  the  hot,  bright  sun. 
The  streets  were  in  fairly  good  condition,  and  were 
much  cleaner  than  we  had  been  led  to  expect,  or 
than  the  streets  of  some  other  towns  which 
were  visited.  The  people  here  looked  under- 
nourished, as  in  Petrograd,  but  there  was  more 
spring  in  their  gait,  less  misery  in  their  mien. 
Sober,  stolid,  unemotional,  indifferent,  they  spent 
little  time  in  looking  at  us  beyond  the  tops  of  our 
boots,  which  in  their  shockingly  bootless  condition 
were  the  things  which  interested  them  most. 
Sometimes  they  frowned  at  our  cars  when  these 
scattered  dust  all  over  them  or  threatened  to  run 
them  down. 

The  open  markets  of  Moscow  present  a  very 
interesting  spectacle.  Private  trading  has  not 
been  abolished.  It  has  only  been  driven  into  the 
streets.  Almost  all  the  shops  have  been  closed  ; 
all  the  big  ones.  The  lively  appearance  of  the 
streets  in  most  big  cities  is  due  to  the  brightly 


Off  to  Moscow  109 

dressed  shop- windows,  displaying  tempting  stores 
of  goods  of  all  sorts.  All  this  side  of  life  has 
vanished.  There  are  the  Soviet  Stores,  the 
Co-operative  Stores  and  the  displays  of  peasant 
arts  and  crafts  ;  but  these  present  no  attractive 
appearance  and  the  goods  supplied  tend  towards 
standardisation,  the  thing  which  robs  shopping  of 
half  its  joys.  Besides  these  there  are  small  shops 
selling  those  goods  which  are  not  Government 
monopolies,  such  small  wares  as  bootlaces,  pins ; 
certain  fruits  and  flowers  ;  agricultural  products 
such  as  eggs,  milk,  potatoes,  carrots,  green 
vegetables  and  pork.  Bread,  both  black  and  white, 
is  on  sale,  the  black  bread  at  400  roubles  and  the 
white  at  1000  roubles  a  pound. 

I  paid  a  visit  to  the  Moscow  markets  on  several 
occasions  for  the  purpose  of  discovering  market 
prices,  and  actually  bought  eggs  at  150  roubles 
each,  flowers  (peonies)  at  400  roubles  each 
blossom,  sour  milk  at  130  roubles  a  tumblerful 
(half  a  pint)  and  small  cucumbers  at  140  roubles 
each.  In  addition  I  discovered  that  the  price  of 
potatoes  in  the  open  market  was  130  roubles  a 
pound  and  horseflesh  from  460  to  600  roubles  a 
pound .  The  average  wage  of  an  unskilled  labourer 
in  Moscow  is  about  2000  roubles  per  month. 
The  average  wage  of  a  good  skilled  worker  is 
not  more  than  4000  roubles  a  month.  It  is  true 
that  an  addition  is  made  to  the  value  of  the  wage 


no        Through  Bolshevik  Russia 

by  the  gift  of  one  good  meal,  and  in  some  special 
circumstances,  of  two  meals  a  day.  But  it  is  also 
true  that  the  Government 'ration  is  only  half  what 
the  people  require  for  health  and  that  men  and 
women  must  perforce  buy  in  the  open  market 
or  go  without  necessary  food.  According  to  the 
prices  and  wages  ruling  in  Moscow  at  the  present 
time,  the  money  wage  of  a  very  well-paid  skilled 
worker,  4000  roubles  a  month,  would  buy  ten 
pound  loaves  of  black  bread  or  four  pound  loaves 
of  white  bread  ;  about  seven  pounds  of  horse- 
flesh, twenty-seven  fresh  eggs  or  twenty-four 
pints  of  milk  (at  180  roubles  a  pint),  and  so  on. 
Naturally,  he  must  go  without  these  things  and 
do  his  best  to  eke  out  a  living  on  Government 
supplies. 

There  are  rows  of  shaded  booths  in  the  market- 
place, with  regular  salesmen  and  women  in  attend- 
ance ;  but  most  of  the  trading  is  done  by  individ- 
uals without  stalls,  refined  and  gentle  folk, 
bourgeois  many  of  them,  coming  in  the  lowest 
categories  for  food,  untrained  in  work  for  the 
most  part,  and  keeping  soul  and  body  together 
by  selling  one  by  one  articles  of  clothing  or  pieces 
of  jewellery  to  whoever  will  buy.  Speculators 
haunt  the  place,  and  buy  the  most  valuable  jewels 
and  clothes  for  a  mere  song,  re-selling  to  others, 
sometimes  peasants,  in  exchange  for  food,  some- 
times  foreign   profiteers   out   for   big   fortunes 


Off  to  Moscow  in 

As  private  trading  is  against  the  law,  in  theory 
at  least,  the  Government  sends  periodically  its 
emissaries  to  sweep  down  upon  the  offenders,  and 
a  poor  man  or  unhappy  woman  is  sent  to  prison 
for  a  term  in  order  to  deter  the  rest.  Real  criminals 
are  sometimes  caught  in  this  fashion,  and  when 
their  premises  are  searched  are  discovered  to  have 
hoards  of  valuable  trinkets,  costly  clothing  and 
precious  stones  for  sale  at  some  future  time  and 
at  fabulous  prices  to  the  "  new  bourgeoisie,"  or 
the  rich  peasantry,  able  to  buy  with  their  agri- 
cultural produce,  and  frantic  to  possess  the  things 
they  had  scarcely  been  allowed  to  look  at  before. 
But  very  often  it  is  some  poor  trembling  soul  who 
is  famished  and  cold  who  is  pounced  upon,  and 
unused  to  the  rough  ways  of  the"  new  world  goes 
to  her  punishment  in  fear  and  trembling,  to  come 
out  of  prison  a  nervous  wreck  and  shadow  of 
her  former  self. 

Many  of  these  people  we  saw,  and  were  filled 
with  pity.  Surreptitiously  one  would  produce  a 
tiny  jewelled  watch,  a  magnificent  diamond  ring, 
a  costly  fur,  a  beautifully  ornamented  comb,  an 
exquisite  enamel,  or  a  piece  of  rare  china,  looking 
fearfully  at  us  lest  after  all  we  were  agents  pro- 
vocateurs come  to  tempt  before  destroying.  I 
have  seen  nothing  more  pitiful  in  all  my  life  than 
the  struggle  of  these  poor  souls  to  live. 

There  appear  to  be  no  automobiles  in  Moscow 


n2       Through  Bolshevik  Russia 

except  those  owned  and  worked  by  the  Govern- 
ment. Materials  for  repairs  are  greatly  needed 
to  keep  even  these  running  smoothly.  Many 
times  the  good  cars  devoted  to  our  service  broke 
down.  Once  when  we  were  thirty  versts  out  of 
Moscow  at  three  o'clock  in  the  morning,  our  car 
went  wrong.  Another  came  running  up  alongside. 
Our  driver  ran  to  beg  assistance.  Instantly  he 
was  covered  with  a  revolver.  He  stood  back 
sharply  and  the  car  drove  on  ;  but  not  before  we 
had  caught  a  glimpse  in  the  bright  moonlight  of 
one  of  the  occupants.  It  was  Trotsky.  Whether 
he  thought  we  were  seeking  his  life,  or  whether 
he  was  in  a  vast  hurry  and  did  not  wish  to  be 
detained  by  a  broken-down  car  we  shall  never 
know.  But  there  was  more  than  a  slight  thrill  in 
the  adventure  for  the  man  who  looked  down  the 
muzzle  of  that  revolver  ! 

The  trams  were  running  in  Moscow,  and  they 
were  as  crowded  as  the  London  tube  railway- 
carriages  at  the  evening  hour  during  the  war. 
On  every  inch  where  a  foothold  could  be  main- 
tained, both  inside  and  out,  people  stood  or 
clung.  We  were  told  that  this  happened  on  the 
railways  during  the  winter,  with  awful  conse- 
quences to  scores  of  people  who  could  not  be 
restrained.  Under  the  necessity  of  travelling, 
these  poor  souls  froze  to  death  on  the  tops  of 
carriages,  clinging   to  footboards   or  riding    on 


Off  to  Moscow  113 

buffers,  their  dead  bodies  being  picked  up  by 
railway  workers  on  the  line. 

The  droshky  drivers,  of  whom  few  are  left  in 
Petrograd  but  many  in  Moscow,  are  a  picturesque 
race  of  old  fellows,  with  their  tall,  broad-brimmed 
hats,  their  thick,  ample  coats  with  leather  or  metal 
belts,  their  high  boots  and  profuse  whiskers. 
For  a  thousand  roubles  you  might  drive  a  mile 
or  so  in  a  very  comfortable  little  carriage  out  of 
which  it  would  be  almost  impossible  to  fall. 

There  is  perfect  order  in  the  city  streets.  By 
night  or  by  day  one  can  walk  with  absolute  safety. 
During  the  summer  months  it  never  really  grows 
dark.  People  take  long  leisure  hours  in  the  parks 
and  open  spaces  as  in  every  other  great  city.  Or 
they  go  to  church.  One  or  two  open-air  cafes 
appear  to  be  still  in  existence  patronised  in  the 
main  by  the  old  and  new  bourgeoisie,  those  of  the 
former  class  who  have  not  quite  spent  their  all,  and 
those  of  the  latter  class  who  are  spending  in  this 
way  for  the  first  time.  For  one  thousand  roubles  a 
plate  of  tolerable  ice-cream  can  be  had,  or  coffee 
and  cakes.  There  is  little  of  gaiety,  none  of  the 
old  cafe  laughter  and  play.  The  general  gloom 
pervades  everything. 

I  have  been  in  both  Vienna  and  Berlin  since 
the  overwhelming  cataclysm  of  the  war.  Berlin 
and  Vienna  are  both  unhappy  cities,  filled  with 
people  who  are  hungry  and  despairing.    Moscow 


ii4       Through  Bolshevik  Russia 

was  at  least  no  worse  than  these  cities,  either  in 
appearance  or  in  fact  ;  and  in  some  respects 
proved  to  be  better  than  either.  It  is  crowded 
with  people  and  hotel  accommodation  is  difficult  to 
find.  Enquirers  from  the  four  corners  of  the 
globe  are  there.  Peacemakers  from  the  border 
states  are  there.  American,  Swedish  and  other 
traders  are  there.  Admirers  of  Sovietism  and 
worshippers  of  Lenin  have  come  to  bow  the  knee 
to  the  new  lord  of  the  Kremlin. 

Moscow  is  the  Government's  headquarters.  It 
is  the  home  of  the  Commissars.  It  is  the  seat  of 
one  of  the  most  amazing  experiments  the  modern 
world  has  seen.  It  is  a  place  of  great  interest  for 
the  whole  of  the  watching  world.  It  is  the  pivot 
upon  which  earth-shaking  events  will  turn.  And 
it  deserves  to  be  treated  with  respect,  and  not 
with  the  ignorant  contempt  which  stupid  people 
shower  upon  it. 

Mistakes  have  been  made  there,  cruel  things 
are  being  done  there ;  but  the  mistakes  are  not 
bigger  nor  the  cruel  things  more  cruel  than  have 
recently  been  made  and  done  in  other  capital 
cities  by  men  who,  for  character  and  integrity, 
ability  and  personality  are  not  fit  to  tie  the  shoe- 
strings of  the  best  of  the  men  and  women  of 
Moscow. 


CHAPTER  X 
An  Interview  with  Lenin 

I  AM  not  so  foolish  as  to  think  that  one  brief 
interview  of  an  hour  and  a  half  entitles  one 
to  be  dogmatic  about  any  individual,  much  less 
about  the  character  of  Lenin.  It  is  not  possible  to 
know  anyone  in  so  short  a  time.  I  had  read  much 
of  what  Lenin  had  written,  and  disagreed  very 
profoundly  with  most  of  it ;  but  I  knew  that  he 
had  kept  together  his  Government  in  circum- 
stances of  tremendous  difficulty  and  discourage- 
ment for  more  than  two  and  a  half  years.  One 
after  another  he  and  his  tireless  colleague, 
Trotsky,  had  overcome  his  country's  enemies, 
both  civil  and  alien.  Koltchak,  Denikin,  Judenitch, 
Petliura  and  all  the  great  host  of  lesser  foes  I  had 
seen  go  down  before  the  more  terrible  hosts  of 
Lenin,  and  had  marvelled,  as  had  the  whole 
world  with  me.  What  sort  of  man  was  this 
Lenin,  it  was  questioned  ?  Was  he  man  or 
devil  ?  Whence  came  his  power  over  the  people  ? 
What  helped  and  enabled  him  to  keep  all  the 
main  forces  of  his  country  together  and  to  sweep, 
one  by  one,  his  enemies  out  of  his  path  ? 

"5 


n6       Through  Bolshevik  Russia 

We  visited  him  in  his  room  in  the  Kremlin. 
Every  approach  to  this  room  was  guarded  by  a 
sentry.  We  were  required  to  show  our  passes 
several  times  before  we  reached  the  inner  sanctum. 
He  received  us  quietly  but  graciously.  An  artist 
was  engaged  upon  a  bust  of  him  whilst  we  talked. 

He  is  a  small  man  with  a  bald  head,  having  a 
fringe  of  reddish  hair  at  the  back  and  a  tiny  red 
beard.  His  mouth  is  large  and  his  lips  thick  ; 
his  eyes  are  red-brown,  and  possess  the  merriest 
twinkle.  Do  not,  gentle  visitor,  when  you  meet 
the  great  man  fall  victim  to  this  twinkling  eye, 
and  make  the  mistake  of  thinking  it  betokens  a 
tender  spirit.  I  am  sure  Lenin  is  the  kindest  and 
gentlest  of  men  in  private  relationships  ;  but 
when  he  mentioned  his  solution  of  the  peasant 
problem,  the  merry  twinkle  had  a  cruel  glint 
which  horrified.  "  Do  you  not  have  a  great  deal 
of  trouble  with  the  peasants  ?  "  he  was  asked. 
"  Do  they  not,  as  in  the  rest  of  Europe,  object 
very  strongly  to  the  communisation  of  land  ?  " 

"  Oh,  yes,"  was  the  reply,  "  we  have  trouble 
occasionally  ;  but  it  is  with  the  rich  peasants 
chiefly.  But  we  soon  get  over  that.  We  send 
to  the  village  a  good  Communist,  who  explains 
to  the  poor  peasant  the  position  and  shows  to 
him  how  the  rich  peasant  is  his  enemy,  and  the 
poor  peasant  does  the  rest.    Ha  !  ha  !  ha  !  " 

Lenin's  method  with  his  visitors  is  clever.    He 


An  Interview  with  Lenin         117 

has  a  most  engaging  frankness.  He  suggests 
by  his  manner  a  more  or  less  confidential  exchange 
of  opinions.  But  when  the  interview  is  over, 
it  is  found  that  he  has  told  you  far  less  than  you 
have  told  him. 

He  impressed  me  with  his  fanaticism.  This 
is  surely  the  source  of  his  driving  power.  And 
yet  I  am  told  that  compared  with  the  really  fanatical 
Communist  Lenin  is  mildness  itself  and  should 
be  classed  with  the  "  Right."  It  was  rumoured 
that  he  is  engaged  on  a  new  book  to  be  given  the 
name  "  The  Infant  Diseases  of  Communism,' ' 
or  some  such  title,  which  suggests  an  honest 
confession  of  mistakes  made  in  the  early  days 
of  the  Commune.  If  this  be  true  there  is  hope 
of  happiness  for  Russia  yet.  But  I  must  confess, 
his  firm  belief  in  the  necessity  of  violence  for  the 
establishment  throughout  the  world  of  his  ideals 
makes  one  doubt  miserably. 

He  showed  a  surprising  lack  of  knowledge  of  the 
British  Labour  Movement.  He  gave  to  conscious 
and  intelligent  Communism  a  far  larger  place  in 
British  politics  than  can  truly  be  accorded  to  it, 
seeing  there  is  as  yet  no  organised  Communist 
party,  but  only  a  handful  of  extremists  of  the 
older  Socialist  movements. 

When  asked  why  he  considered  a  certain  in- 
dividual to  be  of  importance  in  the  political  world 
of  Great  Britain  he  gave  as  his  reason  that  the 


n8       Through  Bolshevik  Russia 

British  Government  had  arrested  her !  He  did 
not  seem  to  be  aware  of  the  fact  that  the  policy 
of  the  British  Government  during  the  war  was, 
as  a  rule,  to  arrest  the  little  people  who  were 
without  following  and  let  the  bigger  folk  go  free. 
Scores  of  examples  of  this  could  have  been  supplied 
to  him  had  it  been  of  importance,  which  was  not 
the  case. 

Lenin  believes  that  a  very  tiny  Communist 
group,  working  upon  a  mass  of  inflammable 
human  beings,  suffering  from  unemployment 
and  hunger,  can  make  the  revolution  necessary 
to  establish  a  new  order  of  society.  He  urges 
all  Communists  in  Great  Britain  to  get  together 
in  one  party  and  work  to  this  end.  He  appears 
to  think  that  the  British  revolution  is  imminent. 
He  has  no  use  for  the  pacifist  philosophy  of  life 
and  believes  that  only  the  working  classes  should 
be  armed  and  the  rest  disarmed.  He  looks  for  a 
world-revolution  in  which  the  toiling  masses 
shall  own  and  control  everything.  I  do  not  know 
from  personal  speech  his  opinion  on  the  Polish 
business  ;  but  I  was  credibly  informed  that  he 
is  more  or  less  indifferent  to  peace  and  cares  little 
about  the  raising  of  the  blockade  and  the  resump- 
tion of  trade  with  Great  Britain.  His  view  is 
simple.  Everything  that  promotes  conditions 
favourable  for  a  world-revolution  is  to  be  approved. 
The  rest  matters  little. 


An  Interview  with  Lenin         119 

At  the  same  time,  I  believe  him  to  be  altogether 
too  sane  to  be  ready  to  throw  away  when  it  offers 
opportunities  of  really  beginning  to  develop  the 
Communist  State. 

Lenin,  like  all  the  Communists,  conveys  the 
impression  of  awful  sureness  of  himself,  of  an 
immovable  and  overpowering  self-confidence.  It 
is  not  the  smiling  self-complacency,  the  shallow 
cocksureness  of  that  very  common  individual 
amongst  us  who  is  sure  that  wisdom  will  die  with 
him.  It  is  the  deadly  certainty  that  he  is  right 
and  everybody  who  differs  from  him  is  wrong, 
of  the  scholar  and  fanatic  who  would  sacrifice  his 
own  head  as  readily  as  he  would  sacrifice  yours  in 
the  believed  interests  of  the  thing  he  loves. 
The  war  has  proved  the  danger  of  entrust- 
ing the  world's  training  and  the  affairs  of 
State  to  professors.  And  Lenin  is  a  Love  all 
things  the  keen-brained,  dogmatic  professor  in 
politics. 

Radek  is  a  different  kind  of  personality.  His 
speech  and  his  movements  are  quick.  In  appear- 
ance he  is  a  thin,  ascetic-looking  man,  with  side- 
whiskers  and  curly  hair,  and  looks  not  unlike 
a  picture  of  an  early  Victorian  squire.  He  has 
long,  thin,  nervous  hands,  very  eloquent  in  gesture. 
Conversation  with  him  is  a  monologue,  in  which 
he  runs  on  endlessly  from  one  subject  to  another, 
and  from  one  point  to  another,  anticipating  your 


120       Through  Bolshevik  Russia 

questions.  He  deals  much  in  irony,  but  his  large, 
pleasant  eyes  covered  with  horned  spectacles 
gleam  not  unkindly  whilst  he  scorches  you  with 
his  words.  He  shows  an  infinite  knowledge  of 
the  Socialist  movements  of  the  world,  con- 
necting personalities  therein  with  events  in  a  most 
marvellous  fashion.  Like  most  fanatics  he  is 
intolerant  of  the  opinions  of  others  and  uses  strong 
and  even  abusive  language  in  dealing  with  those 
from  whom  he  differs.  He  is  a  shrewd  judge  of 
men  and  events  ;  but  I  am  convinced  that  his 
is  the  fanaticism  which  would  run  the  ship  of 
State  upon  the  rocks  if  not  controlled  by  more 
temperate  men. 

His  great  interest  is  the  Third  International,  an 
organisation  of  Communists  who  have  adopted 
the  dictatorship  of  the  proletariat,  government 
on  the  Soviet  plan,  and  revolution  by  violence 
as  the  three  main  points  in  their  platform.  This 
International  is  the  rival  to  the  Second  Inter- 
national held  at  Berne  in  19 19,  three  months 
after  the  armistice.  Their  principal  quarrel  with 
the  Second  International  is  the  inclusion  in  it 
of  those  Socialists  who  supported  the  war  and 
joined  bourgeois  governments.  These  men,  they 
say,  deny  Socialism,  if  not  in  words,  by  the 
implication  of  their  actions,  and  they  can  have 
nothing  to  do  with  such.  The  Second  Inter- 
national also  maintains  an  old-fashioned  belief 


An  Interview  with  Lenin         121 

in  political  democracy  which  they  declare  has 
been  tested  and  found  wanting. 

Communists  in  Moscow  themselves  told  me 
that  there  is  little  to  be  hoped  from  the  Third 
International  as  at  present  constituted  ;  that  it 
was  formed  irregularly  by  a  few  forceful  and 
domineering  men,  who  thrust  a  programme 
upon  it,  which  they  made  it  accept  ;  that  the 
representatives  of  foreign  countries  who  were 
present  at  the  initial  gathering  were  not  accredited, 
but  were  the  returned  exiles  who  happened  to 
be  on  the  spot ;  and  that  the  insistence  of  a 
rigid  discipline  within  the  organisation,  whilst  it 
might  exclude  weak  and  wavering  societies  who 
would  be  a  weakness  and  not  a  strength,  would 
so  restrict  its  numbers  and  eventually  weary  its 
members  that  it  could  not  become  effective  as  it 
is.  These  men  were  themselves  in  favour  of  the 
world  social  revolution,  so  that  their  criticism  is 
important. 

The  document  sent  to  this  country  by  the 
Executive  Committee  of  the  Third  International 
in  reply  to  questions  addressed  to  it  by  some  of 
the  British  visitors  will  definitely  exclude  all  but 
the  bitterest  and  extremest  of  British  Socialists, 
who  for  their  intellectual  sport  play  with  vast 
explosive  human  forces  very  much  as  a  little 
child  plays  with  fire.  Since  this  document  is 
immediately  to  be  published  in  a  separate  volume, 


122       Through  Bolshevik  Russia 

and  so  made  available  for  all  who  care  to  read  it, 
it  is  unnecessary  to  quote  it  at  length.  Sufficient 
to  say,  it  follows  the  lines  already  indicated  as  the 
plan  of  action  proposed  for  the  proletarians  of 
the  whole  world  by  the  Third  International 
sitting  in  its  Second  Conference  in  Moscow  as 
I  write  these  words. 

Dr.  Semasco,  the  People's  Commissar  of  Public 
Health  is  one  of  the  most  admirable  and  devoted 
men  it  has  been  my  lot  to  meet.  Against  the 
most  appalling  sanitary  conditions  left  by  war, 
poverty,  pestilence  and  famine,  this  heroic  doctor 
is  putting  up  a  magnificent  fight.  He  and  his 
band  of  gallant  helpers  have  few  means  with 
which  to  work.  They  are  almost  entirely  lacking 
soap  and  disinfectants,  as  the  needs  of  the  army 
must  be  first  supplied  and  production  in  these 
things  is  almost  at  a  standstill  ;  but  in  spite  of 
this,  he  is  doing  marvellous  things  and  rapidly 
stamping  out  some  of  the  epidemic  diseases  which 
have  raged  all  over  the  country.  As  every  town 
and  village  in  Russia  has  been,  in  a  more  or  less 
degree,  affected  by  one  or  another  of  the  plagues 
of  typhus,  small-pox,  dysentery,  cholera  and 
recurrent  fever,  the  first  line  of  attack  on  these 
things  has  been  through  the  strict  control  of  the 
means  of  communication.  Every  train  carries  its 
medical  staff,  and  includes  in  its  make-up  a 
carriage  to  which  discovered  cases  of  actual  or 


An  Interview  with  Lenin         123 

incipient  disease  can  be  at  once  removed  and 
attended  to.  Control  stations  have  been  placed 
at  fixed  points  on  the  lines,  and  here  people 
have  to  undergo  compulsory  examination, 
bathing  and  disinfecting  as  far  as  means  will 
permit. 

Besides  these  measures,  a  house-cleaning  cam- 
paign, for  which  women  have  been  largely  em- 
ployed, is  undertaken  at  frequent  intervals,  when 
people  are  made  thoroughly  to  clean  the  insides 
and  outsides  of  their  dwellings  and  their  furniture. 
Stern  treatment  follows  neglect  of  this  order  and 
the  result  shows  great  improvement. 

The  figures  for  typhus  cases  for  all  Russia  for 
some  of  the  months  of  the  present  year  reveal 
the  excellent  progress  being  made. 


February  . 

369,859  (civilians) 

March 

3*3*634 

April 

i58.3o8 

January 

66,113  (army) 

February  . 

75.978 

March 

57.251 

April 

16,505 

Dr.  Semasco  is  a  short,  spare  man,  dark  in 
appearance,  energetic  in  action.  He  is  a  stern 
foe  of  all  alcoholic  drinks  and  is,  besides,  an 
opponent  of  the  smoking  habit,  both  on  purely 


124       Through  Bolshevik  Russia 

health  grounds.  He  neither  drinks  nor  smokes 
himself.  He  is  one  of  the  very  few  doctors  who 
are  Communists,  and  has  served  a  term  in  prison 
under  the  old  regime  for  some  inoffensive  piece 
of  Socialist  activity.  It  is  impossible  properly 
to  judge  Russia,  after  all,  without  taking  into 
account  its  revolutionary  history  and  its  inherit- 
ance from  the  past.  The  slightest  thing  was 
regarded  as  an  offence  against  the  Government 
by  the  stupid  Autocracy  which  has  gone,  and 
punished  with  abominable  severity;  such  things, 
for  instance,  as  the  teaching  of  the  peasants  to 
read  and  write.  If  there  is  much  to  be  condemned 
in  the  present  suppression  of  freedom,  in  common 
fairness  it  must  be  remembered  where  the  present 
rulers  learnt  their  lessons  in  tyranny. 

One  of  the  very  ablest  of  the  People's  Com- 
missars is  the  Acting-Commissar  for  Ways  and 
Communications,  Sverdloff.  We  travelled  in  his 
company  from  Nijni-Novgorod  to  Astrakhan.  He 
it  was  who  kindly  put  at  our  disposal  the  train  de 
luxe  which  carried  our  sick  friend  from  Saratov 
to  Reval,  and  whose  considerate  kindness  on  the 
ship  enabled  us  to  save  his  life. 

He  is  in  appearance  slight  and  pale,  of  Jewish 
birth,  with  dark  expressive  eyes  and  rather 
autocratic  manner.  He  has  been  many  times  in 
prison  for  his  political  faith,  although  his  revolu- 
tionary  record  appears  to  have  been  less  lurid 


An  Interview  with  Lenin         125 

than  that  of  his  brother  who  recently  died  of  the 
pestilence.  He  was  in  exile  in  America  and 
England  for  some  years,  and  studied  with  acute 
intelligence  American  business  methods,  particu- 
larly American  business  discipline.  He  has 
brought  this  knowledge  and  training  to  bear 
upon  Russia's  greatest  internal  problem — the 
restoration  of  her  lines  of  communication.  He 
realises  that  these  can  be  fully  and  quickly  re- 
stored only  by  the  hardest  work  and  severest 
discipline.  His  colleagues  and  subordinates  he 
works  eighteen  hours  a  day.  When  they  are 
disobedient  or  neglectful  in  the  slightest  degree 
the  punishment  is  severe.  But  the  work  is  done, 
and  the  men  adore  him.  An  officer  of  high  rank 
who  was  five  minutes  late  to  the  ship  was  given 
twenty-four  hours  in  prison,  to  be  worked  off  in  his 
leisure  and  not  in  his  labour  time.  Rebellious 
workmen,  loading  a  ship  with  fish  in  the  hot  sun 
at  Astrakhan,  who  struck  for  a  rest  were  driven 
back  to  their  work  by  Communist  sailors  with 
loaded  rifles.  These  two  things  I  know  to  be 
true,  for  I  saw  them. 

But  the  importance  of  his  work  cannot  be 
exaggerated,  and  Sverdloff's  impatience  with 
Soviet  interference  in  industry  can  be  well  under- 
stood .  People  dying  for  lack  of  food  and  medicines 
cannot  wait  for  the  debates  of  Committees  to 
decide  this  or  that  point  in  the  organisation  of 


i26       Through  Bolshevik  Russia 

train  or  steamship  communication.  Managerial 
responsibility  is  the  only  way. 

Through  SverdlofFs  able  organisation  the  whole 
of  the  railways  and  bridges  destroyed  by  the 
Koltchak  bands  have  been  restored.  Com- 
munication with  Siberia  has  been  re-established. 
Fleets  of  oil-ships  are  bringing  from  Baku  millions 
of  poods  of  oil,  so  necessary  for  railway  engines 
and  workshop  machinery .  And  when  the  economic 
life  of  Russia  is  fully  restored,  no  small  part  of 
the  credit  must  be  given  to  this  extraordinarily 
able  and  commanding  personality. 

There  are  others  of  the  Communists  who  might 
with  interest  be  described,  men  like  Serada,  the 
Commissar  for  Agriculture,  of  blameless  life 
and  lofty  idealism  ;  Tchicherine,  Commissar  for 
Foreign  Affairs,  gentle  by  nature,  artistic  by 
temperament,  uncomfortable  in  the  whirlpool  of 
politics  as  it  seemed  to  me,  and  shrinking,  sad- 
eyed,  into  nothing  with  the  burden  of  the  office 
unto  which  he  was  not  born,  turned  tyrant 
through  suffering,  the  instrument  of  less  admir- 
able men  than  himself.  Of  the  able  Communist 
women  Madame  Colontai  was  reported  in  Khar- 
koff.  Madame  Lenin  was  too  seriously  ill  to  be 
seen.  Madame  Trotsky  never  came  to  see  us, 
though  she  was  said  to  be  in  the  Opera  House 
when  her  husband  made  his  sudden  and  dramatic 
appearance.    Madame  Kameneff,  who  has  charge 


An  Interview  with  Lenin        127 

of  one  department  of  educational  work,  is  a  charm- 
ing little  lady  who  gives  the  impression  of  great 
ability  joined  to  an  amiable  manner.  Of  the 
humbler  men  and  women  Communists  talked 
with  I  shall  have  something  to  say  in  later  chapters. 


CHAPTER  XI 
Talks  with  Communists  and  Others 

THE  peasants  form  more  than  three-quarters 
of  the  population  of  Russia,  and  one  of 
the  greatest  friends  of  the  peasants,  who  was 
also  an  intimate  of  Tolstoy's,  kindly  invited  three 
of  us  to  his  home,  and  came  to  the  hotel  to  fetch 
us.  His  name  is  TcherkofT,  and  for  some  years 
he  lived  in  England  as  head  of  a  tiny  Co-operative 
Colony  near  Bournemouth.  He  is  extremely 
interested  in  Co-operation  which,  in  his  view,  is 
the  right  line  of  social  development,  particularly 
for  a  country  like  Russia.  It  is  said  there  were 
eighty-eight  million  members  of  the  Russian 
Co-operative  Societies  before  the  war. 

An  amusing  little  episode  occurred  as  we 
prepared  to  leave  the  hotel.  A  second  car  was 
filling  with  other  Delegates,  bound  to  a  great 
propaganda  meeting  under  the  auspices  of  Madame 
Balabanov.  As  this  car  left  ours  behind,  Madame 
Balabanov  waved  her  hand  and  shouted  for  all 
to  hear,  pointing  at  Tcherkoff  : 

"  We  are  going  to  life.     They  are  going  to 

128 


Communists  and  Others         129 

death,' '  which  I  take  it  was  her  pleasant  way  of 
characterising  the  anti-government,  pacifist  philo- 
sophy of  our  friend  and  host. 

Tcherkoff  lives  with  his  wife  and  family  in  a 
house  on  the  outskirts  of  Moscow.  Madame 
Tcherkoff  is  a  great  invalid,  and  apologised  for 
not  being  able  to  rise  from  her  chair  to  receive 
us.  She  is  a  gentle  little  lady,  of  very  frail  and 
delicate  appearance.  Her  husband  is  magnifi- 
cently tall,  grey-haired  and  pale,  with  beautiful 
hands.  They  both  looked  under-nourished.  Being 
non-workers  in  the  Communist  sense  they 
probably  come  in  the  lowest  category  for  food. 
I  was  told  that  they  must  have  died  of  sheer 
hunger  but  for  the  packets  of  biscuit  and  other 
food  surreptitiously  sent  to  them  by  unknown 
peasant  friends.  They  gave  us  of  their  scanty 
supply  of  tea,  and  we  had  a  most  delightful  talk. 

There  were,  perhaps,  ten  persons  present,  all 
conscientious  objectors  to  war  in  any  and 
every  circumstance.  A  newspaper  rumour  that 
one  pacifist  member  of  our  Delegation  had 
denied  his  principles  had  sincerely  disturbed  these 
good  men,  who,  by  the  way,  included  Paul 
Birukoff,  the  biographer  of  Tolstoy.  It  was  sought 
to  reassure  them  on  this  point,  and  then  we  pro- 
ceeded to  ask  questions  for  our  own  information. 
According  to  their  replies  we  learnt  that  though 
the  present  Government  is  bad,  as  from  their 


130        Through  Bolshevik  Russia 

point  of  view  all  governments  must  be,  especially 
highly  centralised  ones,  this  Government  was 
better  than  the  preceding  one,  and  they  would  do 
nothing  to  add  to  its  difficulties  till  better  times 
came. 

At  the  same  time  they  deplored  the  restrictions 
upon  liberty,  which  they  declared  were  more  and 
worse  than  under  the  Czars.  They  spoke  with 
quiet  dignity  of  the  killing  of  conscientious 
objectors,  of  whom  fifteen,  personally  known  to 
members  of  this  group,  and  certified  by  Tcher- 
kofPs  Committee  as  genuine  objectors,  had  been 
shot,  some  of  them  in  their  cells.  Nobody  who 
has  come  into  personal  contact  with  Tcherkoff 
would  believe  for  one  moment  that  such  a  man 
could  lie. 

We  talked  much  and  long  about  peace  and  non- 
resistance,  and  our  half-frozen  minds  melted  again 
under  the  kindly,  human  tones  of  the  voices  of 
gentle  dreamers  who  to  the  world  would  seem  mad, 
but  whose  way,  the  way  of  personal  gentleness 
and  kindly  toleration,  the  world  will  have  to  take 
ultimately  if  it  is  to  be  saved.  They  sent  us  away 
with  cheers  and  words  of  blessing ;  and  I,  at 
least,  and  I  think  the  others  also,  felt  that  we  had 
indeed  been  blessed. 

The  Theosophical  Society  in  Petrograd  has 
had  its  headquarters  closed  as  being  a  counter- 
revolutionary organisation  ;    but  in  Moscow  it 


Communists  and  Others  131 

still  meets  on  occasion  for  the  mutual  comfort 
and  help  of  its  members.  Some  of  its  people 
have  brought  themselves  within  the  law  and  have 
paid  the  penalty.  For  giving  aid  to  the  Govern- 
ment's enemies  by  sheltering  an  agent  of  Koltchak, 
who  was  also  a  personal  friend,  two  members  of 
the  society,  one  an  old  woman,  have  been  shot. 
Technically  in  the  wrong,  one  wonders  how  much 
of  it  was  ignorance  on  the  part  of  these  unhappy 
people,  and  if  the  country's  interests  would  not 
have  been  better  served  if  a  warning  had  been 
given  (with  a  term  of  imprisonment  if  thought 
fit)  instead  of  the  drastic  action  that  actually  was 
taken. 

Amongst  those  who  are  not  of  the  Government 
but  are  doing  nothing  to  hinder  or  hamper  it  we 
met  Emma  Goldman,  the  famous  American  anar- 
chist deportee.  For  the  life  of  me  I  was  unable 
to  discover  why  so  mild  a  little  woman  should  have 
been  sent  out  of  America.  Her  opinions,  com- 
pared with  those  of  the  average  Communist  in 
Russia,  appeared  to  be  as  water  is  to  strong  wine. 
She  reminded  me  of  nobody  so  much  as  a  typical 
member  of  the  Women's  Co-operative  Guild  or 
of  a  Woman's  Social  Service  Club  in  the  United 
States.  She  is  certainly  not  happy  where  she  is, 
and  ought  to  be  allowed  to  return  if  she  wishes. 
She  complained  that  very  many  anarchists,  known 
to  her,  had  been  shot  in  Petrograd  for  counter- 


132       Through  Bolshevik  Russia 

revolutionary  activity.  She  was  very  bitter  about 
this.  It  will  come  as  a  shock  of  surprise  to  many 
people  to  learn  that  violent  anarchism  is  not 
tolerated  by  the  Bolsheviki ;  not  at  any  rate 
when  directed  against  themselves.  Anarchism 
is  the  negation  of  the  Bolshevik  aim  and  ideal. 
I  do  not  know  what  Emma  Goldman's  exact 
record  is.  I  only  know  that  to  me  she  seemed  a 
kind,  motherly  little  woman  who  would  as  soon 
think  of  cutting  off  her  own  nose  as  throwing  a 
bomb  at  anybody  else. 

Of  the  humbler  folk  of  the  city  and  of  the  second 
rank  of  Communist  leaders  I  saw  much  and  learnt 
greatly  from  them.  It  is  idle  to  say  that  there  are 
no  class  divisions  in  Communist  Russia.  The 
differences  may  not  be  so  wide,  but  they  are 
clearly  marked.  Even  the  generous  use  of  the 
word  comrade  (tovarisch)  cannot  cover  up  the 
fact  that  class  distinctions  exist.  The  comrades 
who  waited  upon  us  at  table  and  who  looked  after 
our  rooms  and  drove  us  about  in  cars  were  called 
tovarisch,  but  I  did  not  observe  that  the  courtesy 
due  to  equals  was  shown  to  them.  I  have 
never  seen  servants  anywhere  treated  with  less 
consideration.  They  began  their  work  early  in 
the  morning,  at  seven  or  eight,  and  they  were 
frequently  working  at  one  and  two  o'clock  the 
next  morning.  People  never  came  at  the  time 
they  promised  to  their  meals,  and  put  them  to  any 


Communists  and  Others  133 

amount  of  inconvenience.  Drivers  were  left 
sitting  on  their  cars  for  interminable  hours.  I 
never  saw  any  of  them  thanked  by  any  Russian 
in  the  place.  The  typists  who  were  sent  to  serve 
us  were  ordered  to  eat  in  a  little  back  kitchen  until 
one  of  the  Delegates  intervened.  The  waiters  on 
train  and  ship  appeared  to  be  incessantly  on  duty. 
It  may  of  course  be  the  Russian  way,  and  I  am 
bound  to  say  I  heard  no  complaints.  But  then 
one  does  not  question  the  members  of  the  house- 
hold of  one's  host  about  their  working  conditions. 
I  simply  say  that  the  way  in  which  those  who  did 
the  hard,  unpleasant  work  were  treated  would 
have  sent  British  domestics  on  strike  in  battalions 
and  left  the  bourgeois  citizens  of  England  servant- 
less. 

Two  private  talks  with  members  of  the  intelli- 
gent rank  and  file  of  Socialism  in  Russia  gave  me 
much  light  on  the  situation.  One  was  an  elderly 
man  of  very  keen  understanding  who  still  refused 
to  believe  that  human  beings  would  not  answer  to 
the  reasoned  appeal,  responding  only  to  the  whip- 
lash of  politics.  He  had  been  a  lifelong  revolu- 
tionary and  had  served  many  years  in  Siberia. 
He  was  frankly  disappointed  in  the  present 
Government  and  deplored  many  of  its  tendencies. 
This  no  doubt  explained  the  fact  that  no  position 
of  power  is  held  by  this  man,  for  on  grounds  of 
sheer  ability  and  training  as  well  as  of  revolu- 


134       Through  Bolshevik  Russia 

tionary  ideal  he  could  have  been  of  enormous 
service.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Communist 
party,  but  believes  in  the  obligation  of  trying  to 
keep  it  pure  and  wholesome  through  criticism. 

"  Why  are  you  disappointed  with  Soviet 
Russia  ?  "  I  enquired,  eager  to  be  instructed  on 
the  point. 

"  Chiefly  because  it  is  not  carrying  out  Social- 
ism," was  his  reply.  "  In  theory  the  land  is 
nationalised,  in  practice  we  have  a  system  of 
peasant  proprietorship.  In  theory  classes  have 
been  abolished,  in  practice  there  is  a  new  bour- 
geoisie and  a  new  proletariat  springing  up.  In 
theory  it  is  a  *  Peasants  and  Workers  Govern- 
ment,' in  practice  there  is  no  political  equality 
and  no  democracy ;  for  the  peasants,  the  biggest 
part  of  the  population,  have  only  one  vote  where 
the  townspeople  have  five.  The  peasants  are 
making  themselves  rich  by  the  sale  of  their 
produce  for  goods.  These  they  will  store  until 
such  a  time  as  they  can  sell  for  big  prices.  They 
will  be  the  new  capitalists." 

"  But  is  not  all  this  inevitable,  considering  the 
war  and  the  continued  existence  of  Capitalism  in 
other  countries,"  I  queried  ? 

"  Perhaps.  But  they  must  not  call  it  Commun- 
ism, nor  even  Socialism.  My  quarrel  with  them 
is  that  they  misname  the  thing.  It  is  an  auto- 
cracy, with  a  fresh  group  of-«autocrats.     It  is  a 


Communists  and  Others         135 

bureaucracy  very  much  like  the  old  one  for  greed, 
incompetence  and  corruption.  And  if  the  per- 
sonnel were  reduced  by  fifty  per  cent,  the  work 
would  be  done  just  as  well." 

I  could  see  he  was  almost  bitter  in  his  dis- 
appointment. 

"  But  education  will  remedy  that  in  time,"  I 
said  hopefully. 

"  I  doubt  it.  The  nation  is  Leing  rapidly 
militarised.  The  whole  thing  will  harden  into  a 
system.  The  ground  is  being  prepared  for  a  new 
Czar  or  a  Napoleon.  I  am  full  of  grave  fear  for 
the  future."    So  the  old  man  talked. 

"  Let  us  hope  you  are  wrong,"  I  said,  and  left 
him  to  talk  to  a  bright  girl  who  had  called  for  a 
good  pair  of  boots  I  was  able  to  spare. 

But  I  must  frankly  say  that  this  note  was  very 
frequently  struck.  By  some  it  was  regarded  as 
the  way  of  deliverance  ;  by  others,  like  my  old 
friend,  as  the  death-knell  of  all  their  hopes. 

"  They  ought  never  to  have  attempted  the 
experiment,"  said  another  distinguished  servant 
of  the  Republic,  speaking  of  the  Bolsheviki,  "  if 
they  had  no  more  promise  of  success  than  this. 
It  was  a  crime  against  the  nation,  for  the  Allies 
would  not  have  made  war  against  a  National 
Assembly  chosen  by  the  whole  people,  and  the 
people  of  Russia  would  now  have  been  a  long 
way  on  the  road  to  reconstruction  and  happiness." 


136       Through  Bolshevik  Russia 

My  girl  friend  was  a  Manchester  lass  who  was 
working  in  a  Soviet  office.  I  asked  her  if  she  was 
happy,  and  she  looked  wistful  and  said  she  was 
hungry  a  good  deal  and  that  she  could  "  do  very 
well  with  some  stockings  and  underclothes,"  but 
that  she  liked  her  work,  which  was  translating, 
and  had  no  complaints  on  that  score. 

"  But,"  I  said,  "  why  don't  you  go  home  ? 
Are  you  being  kept  here  against  your  will  ?  " 

"  Oh  no,"  she  replied  very  quickly,  "  I  could 
go  home  if  I  wanted  to,  but — "  and  here  a  deep,  red 
blush  spread  over  her  pretty  face  and  told  me  her 
story  without  further  words.  She  will  not  leave 
until  her  lover  can  come  too.  As  a  productive 
worker  he  cannot  be  spared  at  present.  So  the 
two  stay  and  work  and  love  and  hope  together. 

I  find  these  complications  not  uncommon. 
There  is  an  English  colony  in  Petrograd,  suffering 
greatly  from  lack  of  means,  and  anxious  to  have 
the  British  Government  send  out  a  Commissioner 
to  help  them  in  various  ways.  They  have  full 
leave  from  the  Russian  Government  to  repatriate 
their  members.  But  domestic  tangles  lie  in  the 
way.  A  mother  has  two  daughters,  one  British 
and  the  other  (perhaps  by  marriage)  Russian. 
She  cannot  bear  to  go  away  and  leave  one  child 
behind,  and  the  Russian  child  is  not  at  present 
acceptable  to  the  British  Government.  Or  a 
lover  is  involved  as  in  the  case  of  Miss  W . 


Communists  and  Others  137 

Or  a  dead  husband  has  left  his  wife  bound  in  the 
chain  of  his  Russian  nationality.  One  Govern- 
ment or  the  other  refuses  to  give  the  necessary 
papers. 

What  the  sufferings  of  the  citizens  of  Petrograd 
and  Moscow  must  have  been  in  the  early  days  of 
the  Revolution,  and  during  the  whole  of  the  period 
of  the  first  Revolution,  chiefly  from  the  general 
disorganisation  and  the  advantage  taken  of  it  by 
disorderly  bands  of  soldiers  and  ordinary  thieves 
and  criminals  it  is  impossible  properly  to  imagine. 

One  young  Communist  told  me  something  of  the 
experiences  of  himself  and  his  wife.  He  told  the 
story  quietly,  in  the  passive  Russian  fashion,  as 
if  it  were  the  kind  of  tale  one  tells  at  the  nursery 
fire  to  a  sleepy  child.  This  fatalism  is  the  most 
amazing  quality  of  the  Russian  character. 

1  We  had  our  little  house  in  Petrograd,  my  wife 
and  I.  We  expected  our  first  baby  very  soon. 
We  were  very  happy  in  each  other,  but  cold  and 
hungry  all  the  time.  That  didn't  matter.  We 
were  happy."  Here  he  stopped  and  gave  a  des- 
pairing look. 

"  I  blame  myself  bitterly,"  he  said.  "  My  wife 
is  an  English  girl.  We  were  married  in  England 
the  year  before  the  War.  I  brought  her  to  Russia. 
Russia  was  England's  ally  then.  How  could  I 
foresee  the  war  that  very  few  wiser  people  foresaw  ? 
How  could  I  know  that  revolution  would  come 


138        Through  Bolshevik  Russia 

when  it  did,  and  that  it  would  make  so  many 
differences  ?  "  There  was  a  long  pause.  "  Poor 
girl,  she  was  not  used  to  such  sufferings.  And 
I  brought  them  on  her."  He  showed  me  a  photo- 
graph. "  Look,"  he  said,  "  and  please  take  this. 
I  have  put  the  address  of  her  brother  and  sister 
in  England  on  the  back.  I  have  sent  her  and  the 
little  baby  to  Helsingfors.  She  is  very  ill.  Her 
spine  is  packed  in  plaster  of  Paris.  I  sold  every- 
thing that  was  left  and  gave  her  fourteen  pounds, 
all  I  could  raise.  I  sent  her  to  England  to  her 
family.    I  hope  she  will  arrive  safely." 

I  looked  incredulous  at  the  courage  and,  I 
must  confess,  what  looked  like  the  folly  of  it. 
"  Has  she  a  British  passport  ?  "  I  asked.  "  She 
is  now  a  Russian,  you  know,  since  her  marriage 
with  you,  and  she  may  have  difficulties  in  getting 
into  England.  They  are  frightened  of  Bolsheviks 
in  England."  "  No,  she  has  no  passport,"  he 
said,  "  but  I  am  sure  the  British  Consul  will 
be  kind  and  help  her  home.  I  am  sure  of  it. 
She  too  has  absolute  confidence  in  her  country's 
Government,  and  would  be  utterly  amazed  to 
receive  any  unkindness  from  it." 

With  my  own  experience  of  passport  difficulties 
in  mind  I  marvelled  at  such  faith.  I  have  since 
learnt  that  it  has  been  amazingly  justified,  and  that 
the  poor  girl  is  safe  at  home.  Her  husband  also 
learnt   it   before   we   left   him.    "  But  go  back 


Communists  and  Others  139 

to  your  story  of  Petrograd,"  I  said,  very 
interested. 

"  Well,  we  lived  happily  in  our  little  house, 
selling  first  one  thing  and  then  another  for  food. 
One  night,  a  gang  of  men  forced  their  way  in, 
showed  Soviet  passports,  and  took  a  great  many 
of  our  valuable  things.  We  were  glad  our  lives 
were  spared.  Three  times  this  thing  happened, 
and  we  had  very  little  left.  One  night,  when  my 
brother  was  with  us,  there  came  another  intruder 
in  the  name  of  the  Government.  He  tried  to 
kill  my  brother.  I  shot  him  in  the  legs.  He 
crawled  to  my  feet  and  begged  for  his  life.  My 
brother  and  I  left  to  hide.  We  were  in  hiding 
four  months.  The  man  I  shot  in  the  legs  really 
was  a  Commissar.  All  the  others  were  thieves 
with  forged  warrants.  My  wife  was  tormented 
every  day  to  make  her  tell  where  I  was.  She 
did  not  know.  She  nearly  died  of  suffering. 
And  the  little  baby  came."  He  looked  dreamily 
away. 

'  If  she  had  stayed  in  Petrograd  for  the  coming 
winter  she  would  have  died.  It  was  the  only 
way." 

'  She  shall  come  to  me  in  England  if  she  needs 
a  home,"  I  said.  And  with  this  promise,  that 
any  human  being  would  have  given,  he  was  greatly 
comforted. 


CHAPTER  XII 
The  Dictatorship  of  the  Communists 

ONE  baleful  result  of  the  late  European  war 
has  been  to  weaken  faith  in  political 
democracy  amongst  those  people  whom  it  most 
seriously  concerns.  And  the  most  pitiful  part  of 
the  tragedy  is  that  the  wounds  of  democracy 
have  been  delivered  in  the  house  of  its  friends. 
That  is  a  big  story  which  will  one  day  be  written 
in  full.  The  important  fact  remains,  that  Parlia- 
mentary political  machinery  is  in  danger  of  being 
thrown  upon  the  scrap-heap  by  those  who  see 
in  it  something  antiquated  and  rusty  and  so 
incapable  of  serving  their  needs.  With  this  in 
mind,  we  sought  to  discover  if  Russia  had  truly 
anything  better  to  offer. 

The  vocational  franchise  upon  which  the 
Soviet  is  based  has  something  to  be  said  for  it ; 
but  does  the  Soviet  work  ?  Is  it  what  it  is  claimed 
to  be,  a  more  democratic  form  of  government,  and 
one  more  accurately  reflecting  the  people's  will  ? 
To  this  question  it  was  difficult  to  get  an  answer. 
But  whatever  it  might  be  capable  of  doing  in  a 

140 


Dictatorship  of  the  Communists      141 

highly  educated,  industrially  efficient  country  like 
England  or  the  United  States,  it  does  not  work  in 
Russia.  There  is  not  an  ounce  of  democratic 
control  in  the  politics  of  Russia.  The  theory  is 
that  everybody  is  entitled  to  vote.  But  the 
peasants  have  only  one  vote  to  the  townspeople's 
five,  or,  to  put  it  the  other  way,  each  townsman 
votes — if  he  works — but  five  peasants  together 
cast  one  vote.  All  who  do  no  work  or  who  employ 
labour  for  profit,  or  who  follow  the  priestly 
vocation  are  disfranchised.  Women  stand  on  the 
same  footing  as  men  in  theory.  But  in  the  villages 
we  explored  we  discovered  a  difference  in  eligi- 
bility to  the  Soviets.  An  illiterate  man  may  be 
eligible,  an  illiterate  woman  is  definitely  not  so. 

The  elections  are  not  free.  If  free,  in  my 
judgment  there  would  not  be  a  majority  for  the 
Communists.  Voting  is  by  show  of  hands,  so  that 
those  who  vote  against  the  candidates  chosen  for 
them  by  the  Executive  of  the  Communist  party 
or  sent  down  from  the  People's  Commissars 
become  marked  men  and  women.  In  spite  of 
this,  the  Mensheviki  have  secured  majorities  in 
certain  districts  where  their  candidates  were  well- 
known  and  needed  no  electioneering  to  carry 
them  in  ;  for,  had  they  needed  that  their  case 
would  have  been  hopeless.  As  all  the  halls  belong 
to  the  Government  it  is  the  simplest  device  in  the 
world  to  engage  them  for  the  sole  use  of  Com- 


142        Through  Bolshevik  Russia 

munist  or  approved  candidates  during  an  election . 
And  as  all  the  printing-presses  likewise  are  the 
property  and  under  the  control  of  the  Govern- 
ment, its  opponents  find  it  well-nigh  impossible 
to  have  their  case  presented  to  the  electors. 

The  Mensheviki  have  secured  a  little  more 
than  a  quarter  of  the  seats  on  the  Moscow  Soviet, 
in  spite  of  all  difficulties,  which  fact  speaks 
volumes  for  their  probable  real  strength.  One 
story  was  told  us  of  a  factory  which  voted  for  an 
opposition  candidate  to  Lenin  by  a  proportional 
vote  of  something  like  seventy  to  eight,  and  when 
ordered  to  conduct  a  new  election  for  the  purpose 
of  reversing  the  decision  had  the  courage  to  stick 
to  their  guns  and  record  seventy  and  eight  the 
second  time  ;  but  such  instances  are  not  numerous, 
for  the  fear  of  authority  is  very  great. 

Theoretically  "  All  Power  to  the  Soviet/'  a 
favourite  piece  of  rhetoric,  is  a  true  saying,  or 
was  so.  For  I  discover  in  reading  carefully  the 
Thesis  of  the  Executive  Committee  of  the  Com- 
munist International  recently  published  to  the 
world,  that  a  new  line  is  being  taken.  The  pretence 
of  democracy  is  vanishing.  Every  species  of 
tyranny  by  the  Communist  party  over  the  rest 
of  the  proletariat  and  people  is  justified,  as  it 
always  has  been  in  the  writings  of  the  principal 
men  of  the  Communist  Movement,  until  Com- 
munism becomes  the  accepted  creed  of  mankind 


Dictatorship  of  the  Communists      143 

and  the  Communist  system  is  firmly  established 
all  over  the  earth. 

The  Soviet  elects  an  Executive  Committee. 
In  Moscow  this  numbers  forty  persons.  This 
Committee  elects  a  Presidium.  In  Moscow  this 
numbers  nine.  The  power  which  may  still 
linger  in  the  Soviet  to  a  small  degree  resides 
in  this  Presidium.  But  on  this  body  and  over 
the  election  of  both  the  Presidium  and  the 
Executive  Committee,  the  Government  exercises 
great  pressure,  and  naturally  the  Government 
nominees,  who  are  all  Communists,  are  elected 
to  the  Presidium,  which  sits  daily. 

Great  play  is  made  in  defending  this  undemo- 
cratic arrangement  and  these  terrific  powers,  of 
the  "  recall,"  which  they  allege,  operates  frequently 
and  is  a  check  on  conduct.  If  recalls  are  as 
frequent  as  is  claimed,  the  efficiency  of  business 
must  be  seriously  jeopardised.  But  the  recall  is 
frequently  exercised  because  some  elected  persons 
are  obliged  to  go  to  the  front  and  it  is  thought 
wise  to  put  others  in  their  places.  Drinking, 
which  is  another  reason  for  recall,  should  not  be 
possible  in  a  prohibition  country.  Personal  spite 
and  jealousy  frequently  come  into  the  business. 
And  an  eloquent  speaker,  working  upon  an 
ignorant  and  changeable  mass  can  so  change  their 
political  point  of  view  as  to  bring  their  repre- 
sentative easily  within  the  criticism  of  his  con- 


»44        Through  Bolshevik  Russia 

stituents  unless  he  changes  with  them.  I  have 
frequently  observed  in  Russia  the  same  person 
applauding  the  exactly  opposite  sentiments,  a 
characteristic  by  no  means  confined  to  Russian 
men  and  women  ! 

Seldom  does  the  All-Russian  Soviet  meet,  and 
then  only  to  do  formal  business,  such  as  recording 
the  decrees  issued  by  the  People's  Commissars 
or  to  ratify  the  decisions  of  the  Communist 
party.  The  People's  Commissars,  of  whom 
there  are  seventeen,  have  the  power  to  issue 
decrees  without  consulting  the  Soviets  at  all. 
More  than  that,  each  Commissar  can  issue  decrees 
relative  to  the  work  of  his  own  department  ;  or 
two  Commissars  can  do  this  in  their  joint  names 
on  a  matter  jointly  affecting  their  two  departments. 
These  decrees  have  all  the  force  of  law,  and  must 
be  obeyed  under  heavy  penalties. 

To  the  slaves  of  theory,  the  abstractionists  and 
dogmatists,  the  decrees  which  consent  to  the 
modifications  in  committee  management  of  in- 
dustry must  be  considered  wholly  bad.  But 
when  I  record  the  fact  that  the  power  of  workmen 
to  interfere  through  those  committees  in  highly 
important  productive  and  reconstructive  work, 
either  through  delays,  or  ignorance,  or  in  the 
name  of  a  democratic  principle  run  to  seed,  has 
given  place  all  over  Russia  to  control  by  experts, 
and  management  on  lines  of  personal  responsi- 


Dictatorship  of  the  Communists      145 

bility,  I  am  placing  on  record  what  I  consider  to 
be  a  good  and  wise  thing. 

In  Russia  Trade  Unionism  is  of  very  recent 
birth.  In  February,  1917,  there  were  three  Trade 
Unions  in  Russia  with  a  membership  of  less  than 
one  thousand  five  hundred  persons.  When  the 
revolution  broke  out,  some  of  the  workmen 
thought  it  part  of  the  plan  to  smash  the  machinery 
in  the  workshops,  so  ignorant  were  they  of  the 
source  of  their  woes  and  of  the  remedy  for  these. 
The  want  of  Trade  Union  training,  the  lack  of 
discipline,  the  absence  of  co-ordination,  both  in 
industry  and  in  their  organisations,  helped  still 
further  to  increase  the  sufferings  of  the  people, 
by  delaying  the  work  of  rebuilding.  The  fear  of 
bourgeois  technical  and  scientific  experts,  who 
were  accused  freely  of  sabotage,  caused  their 
necessary  skill  and  labour  for  a  long  period  to  be 
refused  ;  this  still  further  aggravated  the  situation. 
And  it  appears  to  be  entirely  creditable  that, 
in  those  matters  where  the  special  training 
and  specialised  mind  are  essential,  the  Com- 
munist rulers  have  seen  proper  to  change  their 
method. 

But  it  is  too  dangerous  a  step  on  the  road  to 
complete  centralisation  of  power  to  have  made 
of  the  Trade  Unions,  as  is  practically  the  case, 
a  Government  department  working  under  the 
control  of  the  Supreme  Economic  Council. 

J 


146        Through  Bolshevik  Russia 

The  Supreme  Economic  Council,  when  its 
structure  is  complete,  will  have  fifty  productive 
departments  under  its  control,  a  department  of 
finance  and  a  department  for  the  co-ordination 
and  supervision  of  the  local  Economic  Councils 
which  are  spread  all  over  the  country.  A  Col- 
legium of  three  or  five  members  is  in  charge  of 
each  department,  whilst  the  greater  body,  the 
Supreme  Economic  Council  itself  is  controlled 
by  a  Presidium  of  eleven  members,  nominated 
by  the  Executive  Committee  of  the  Trade  Unions 
and  confirmed  by  the  Council  of  People's  Com- 
missars. 

We  had  speech  with  Miluitin,  assistant  to 
Rekoff,  the  People's  Commissar  for  this  depart- 
ment, who  told  us  that,  of  the  five  thousand 
nationalised  enterprises,  seventy  per  cent  were 
working  more  or  less  satisfactorily  ;  but  that 
whilst  war  and  the  blockade  continued  they  could 
not  hope  to  do  more  than  maintain  their  industries 
in  the  condition  of  their  comparative  efficiency. 
They  hoped,  however,  to  develop  and  extend 
later  on.  All  large  industries  such  as  coal,  gold, 
iron,  platinum,  petroleum  and  their  products, 
machinery,  railway  engines,  etc.,  are  nationalised  ; 
textiles,  railways  and  large  shipping  ;  retail  shops 
and  banking.  Banking  has  become  the  book- 
keeping department  of  the  State.  Money  is 
still  in  use,  but  it  is  hoped  to  establish  a  system 


Dictatorship  of  the  Communists      147 

of  exchange  which  will  remove  the  necessity 
of  money  altogether. 

Russia  has  complete  conscription  of  labour. 
All  men  and  women  of  from  eighteen  years  to  fifty 
are  obliged  to  work.  The  forms  of  Labour 
organisation  are  being  militarised.  A  worker 
must  go  where  he  is  sent  and  do  what  he  is  told 
under  very  heavy  penalties.  Late-coming  and 
dilatory  behaviour  are  punished  heavily.  Nobody 
is  allowed  to  be  idle,  except,  of  course,  the  very 
old  and  the  infirm. 

This  cannot  be  wholly  condemned  in  Russia's 
present  terrible  condition.  Those  who  would 
wish  to  stand  idle  in  such  circumstances  ought 
to  be  constrained  by  hunger  if  public  opinion  is 
not  sufficient,  and  if  the  discipline  is  at  times  over- 
severe,  the  breakdown  of  Russia's  economic  life 
is  a  very  substantial  excuse,  if  not  a  complete 
justification. 

Those  soldiers  of  the  Red  Army  drafted  into 
the  Labour  Army  and  the  many  civilian  corps 
added  to  their  numbers  are  doing  good  work  in 
reconstruction  in  the  mines,  on  the  railways,  at 
the  oilfields  and  in  the  workshops.  They  are  a 
mobile  force,  and  are  drafted  in  tens  of  thousands 
from  one  place  to  another  as  the  need  requires. 

I  was  told  that  every  effort  was  made  not  to 
disturb  industries  that  are  running  satisfactorily 
by  taking  their  workpeople  for  the  Labour  Army. 


i48        Through  Bolshevik  Russia 

As  far  as  possible  the  least  usefully  employed  are 
diverted  to  the  Labour  Army.  There  have  been 
administrative  difficulties  of  a  minor  sort,  and 
occasional  revolts  against  the  conscription  of 
their  labour  by  men  who  objected  to  leaving  their 
homes  and  families,  but  on  the  whole  the  plan 
has  worked  well  and  has  been  of  great  benefit  in 
the  restoration  of  the  railways  and  the  oil  supplies. 
It  is  not  proposed  to  demobilise  the  Labour  Army 
until  the  economic  life  of  the  country  is  re- 
established. 

The  Co-operative  Societies  have  also  become  a 
great  Government  department,  and  it  is  hoped 
to  hand  over  to  them  completely  the  work  of  the 
Food  Commissariat.  When  their  new  organisation 
on  these  lines  is  completed  the  Co-operative 
Society,  or  "  Centrosoyu  "  as  it  is  called,  will  work 
under  the  authority  of  the  Supreme  Economic 
Council  for  the  distribution  of  all  articles  of 
monopoly,  such  things  as  wheat,  bread,  coal, 
sugar,  fur,  textiles,  clothing  and  timber.  In 
distributing  goods  which  are  not  monopolised 
by  the  Government  at  present  the  Centrosoyu 
will  be  guided  by  its  method  in  respect  of  the 
other  things.  The  Co-operative  Societies  are 
represented  on  the  Supreme  Economic  Council, 
and  the  chairman  has  the  right  to  attend  the 
meetings  of  the  People's  Commissars,  but  he  may 
not  vote.    Citizens  are  informed  that  there  is  no 


Dictatorship  of  the  Communists      149 

compulsion  on  them  to  join  the  Co-operative 
Society,  and  there  is  no  longer  the  attraction  of 
the  dividend  ;  but  as  theirs  is  the  monopoly  of 
bread,  and  the  only  other  source  of  supply  is  the 
outlawed  "  speculator,"  whose  charges  are  pro- 
hibitive— four  hundred  roubles  for  a  pound  of 
black  bread — it  is  obvious  that  the  freedom  is 
illusory. 

Similarly  with  the  Trade  Unions.  Techni- 
cally, I  suppose,  there  is  no  compulsion  to  join 
a  Trade  Union  ;  but  as  it  is  impossible  to  live 
unless  one  does,  since  the  more  important  part 
of  the  pay  is  in  the  food  given  to  a  worker  and  his 
family,  and  since  such  privileges  as  tickets  for 
supplies  of  boots  and  clothing  and  other  necessaries 
and  free  passes  for  the  theatres  and  the  concert- 
halls  are  supplied  through  the  Trade  Unions,  or 
the  Soviets,  which  are  largely  Trade  Union  in 
character,  the  wise  man  does  not  care  to  remain 
outside.  These  facts  may  account  for  the 
phenomenal  increase  in  Trade  Union  membership, 
which  is  said  to  have  leapt  to  nearly  five  million 
during  the  last  three  years.  Five  millions  out  of  a 
population  made  up  of  eighty-five  per  cent 
peasants  is  a  very  considerable  proportion  of  the 
industrial  population,  and  constitutes  a  miraculous 
conversion  of  the  multitude  on  any  other  sup- 
position than  the  one  I  suggest. 

And   by   all   these   signs   we   learn   what   the 


150       Through  Bolshevik  Russia 

"  dictatorship  of  the  proletariat  "  really  means. 
Let  there  be  no  mistake  whatever  about  this. 
I  am  wholly  hostile  to  the  artificial  dictatorship 
of  any  class  in  those  matters  which  are  the  serious 
concern  of  all.  I  believe  in  the  dictatorship  of 
the  idea,  that  is  in  the  power  of  the  idea  to  conquer 
without  force,  and  the  right  of  the  majority  to 
decide  all  those  matters  of  high  policy  which 
cannot  be  settled  amicably  without  a  vote  ;  but 
I  consider  that  the  sources  of  information  should 
be  available  for  all,  the  right  of  propaganda  be 
universal  and  unrestricted,  and  the  liberties  and 
rights  of  the  minorities  safeguarded  in  all  those 
things  where  the  well-being  of  the  community 
is  not  manifestly  to  all  threatened  by  too  great 
concessions.  I  believe  that  the  Parliamentary 
machine  needs  very  considerable  overhauling ; 
that  something  of  the  nature  of  proportional 
representation  should  be  devised  ;  that  a  chamber 
elected  upon  a  vocational  basis  might  very  usefully 
replace  the  hereditary  House  of  Lords.  I  believe 
in  the  devolution  of  power  in  national  and  local 
affairs,  and  would  give  not  only  to  Ireland,  but  to 
Scotland  and  Wales  and  England  their  separate 
national  one-chamber  Parliaments.  I  would 
extend  the  vote  to  all  adult  women,  as  in  Russia, 
and  encourage  the  work  of  committees  ;  all  this 
to  better  secure  the  expression  in  politics  of  the 
real  will  of  the  people. 

But  the  Russian  dictatorship  does  not  do  this. 


Dictatorship  of  the  Communists      151 

It  is,  at  the  best,  an  attempt  by  a  few  men  to 
compel  the  people  of  Russia  to  have  what  in  their 
opinion  is  good  for  them.  It  may  very  well  be 
that  what  they  seek  to  impose  and  the  methods 
by  which  they  seek  to  impose  it  will  in  some  ways 
benefit  a  lethargic  race,  unused  to  the  ways  of 
freedom.  I  express  no  opinion  on  the  point, 
beyond  saying  this  :  That  the  argument  of 
unfitness  to  manage  one's  own  affairs  has  a  very 
familiar  ring  about  it  to  women.  It  was  the 
favourite  argument  against  granting  the  vote  to 
women  of  a  certain  class  of  English  opponent. 
Our  good  was  sought,  not  our  freedom. 

But  though  the  freedom  was  denied  for  so  long, 
the  good  lingered  also  ;  and  the  Russian  people 
might  reasonably  protest,  and  in  many  cases  do 
protest,  that  there  the  good  is  lingering  also.  The 
great  and  fundamental  question  for  all  who  are 
thinking  seriously  about  these  things  is  this  :  Has 
a  handful  of  brilliant  and  thoughtful  men ,  however 
good  and  sincere  they  may  be,  the  moral  right  to 
enforce  upon  a  whole  community  the  system  they 
believe  in  but  the  community  as  a  whole  rejects, 
with  all  the  tyranny  and  cruelty  such  dictatorship 
must  inevitably  mean  ?  Had  the  men  of  Russia 
the  moral  right  to  break  up  their  own  National 
Assembly,  however  inadequate  and  faulty,  thereby 
bringing  upon  their  country  civil  war  and  alien 
aggression,  for  the  sake  of  a  theory  however 
magnificent  ? 


152        Through  Bolshevik  Russia 

It  might  be  suggested  that  the  majority  in 
Russia  does  not  reject  the  idea  of  Communism, 
because  the  whole  population  is  behind  the 
Government  ;  which  is  perfectly  true.  But  the 
population  is  behind  the  Government  because 
it  is  a  patriotic  population,  and  it  is  threatened 
once  more  by  the  horror  of  foreign  invasion. 
This  is  why  the  experiment  in  Russia  has  been 
spoiled.  The  really  big  things  which  are  being 
attempted  cannot  be  judged  on  their  merits. 
Their  success  or  their  failure  are  inextricably 
mixed  up  with  the  various  wars  which  Russia  has 
suffered  since  the  Revolution  and  with  the  blockade 
so  cruelly  drawn  around  her.  When  the  history 
of  these  times  comes  to  be  faithfully  written,  it 
will  not  be  the  Russian  Communists  whose  records 
will  blacken  the  pages  of  history  most.  It  will 
be  the  records  of  certain  Allied  statesmen,  hitherto 
believed  to  be  gentlemen  and  Christians,  which 
will  throw  into  bright  relief  the  courage  and 
resourcefulness  of  the  present  rulers  of  Russia. 

No  words  can  be  too  strong  with  which  to  con- 
demn the  action  of  those  who  first  intervened  to 
destroy  Revolutionary  Russia ;  and  no  loss  to  the 
world  is  more  to  be  regretted  than  that  loss  of  a 
valuable  social  experiment  which  would  have 
shown  the  rest  of  the  world  what  to  imitate  and 
what  to  avoid  in  its  march  towards  a  happier  lot 
for  all  mankind. 


Dictatorship  of  the  Communists      153 

It  is  the  old,  old  story  of  force  breeding  force, 
and  evil  producing  evil.  The  inhabitants  of 
Russia  lived  so  long  with  the  evil  system  of  the 
Czar's  bureaucracy,  with  its  Cossacks,  and  knouts, 
its  prisons  and  scaffolds,  that  the  thing  has  entered 
into  their  very  blood,  and  under  the  necessity 
of  maintaining  their  power,  the  Communist  rulers 
slip  easily  and  naturally  into  the  same  institutions 
and  methods,  adopting  even  the  old  machinery 
and  the  ancient  servitors.  But  the  cruelties  and 
suppressions,  said  by  them  and  their  supporters 
to  be  necessary  and  inevitable  in  all  the  circum- 
stances, will  breed  a  resistance  amongst  themselves 
which  will  bring  the  structure  tottering  to  the 
ground,  unless  the  madness  of  their  foes  continues 
until  the  grip  upon  the  people  becomes  too  strong. 
Even  so,  such  a  thing  will  come  to  an  end  in  time. 

In  the  interests  of  Russia  herself  it  is  for  those 
who  care,  to  stop  all  alien  wars  against  her,  and 
so  give  her  people  a  chance  of  shaking  themselves 
free  of  tyranny,  both  within  and  without. 

And  for  ourselves,  we  shall  be  wise  to  move 
as  quickly  as  may  be  along  the  sure  and  peaceful 
paths  of  political  and  industrial  democracy, 
seeking  by  education  and  by  constant  endeavour 
and  sacrifice  to  convince  the  minds  of  men  and 
women  that  the  world  has  something  better  to 
give  them  of  culture  as  well  as  comfort  than  the 
best  of  them  have  ever  dreamed. 


CHAPTER  XIII 
The  Suppression  of  Liberty 

IN  December  of  19 17  there  was  established 
in  Russia  for  the  protection  of  the  Revolution 
and  "  to  carry  on  the  merciless  struggle  against 
those  trying  to  overthrow  the  Soviet  system  ; 
against  sabotage,  banditage  and  espionage  and 
speculation  "  an  organisation  known  as  the  Extra- 
ordinary Commission.  It  has  an  Advisory  Board 
of  fifteen  persons,  all  members  of  the  Communist 
party.  Its  head  and  chief  is  a  man  named 
Dserzhinsky,  a  fanatical  Communist  whose  adora- 
tion of  Lenin  is  notorious.  He  is  assisted  in 
his  work,  according  to  the  Vice-President,  with 
whom  we  had  an  interview,  by  a  definite  staff  of 
four  thousand  five  hundred  persons,  estimated 
by  others  who  were  present  on  this  occasion  at  a 
number  enormously  greater  than  that.  These 
assistants  consider  it  their  duty  to  arrest  all  whose 
actions  appear  to  them  to  be  inimical  to  the  welfare 
of  the  Communist  State. 

This  great  army  of  spies  and  police  agents, 
largely  the  same  men  as  served  the  Czar's  regime, 

154 


The  Suppression  of  Liberty       155 

arrest  for  the  most  trivial  offences  and  on  the 
slightest  suspicion.  A  young  man  who  has  saved 
his  money  and  is  buying  his  sweetheart  a  few 
expensive  blossoms  on  her  birthday  is  arrested 
by  the  person  standing  next  him  in  the  shop  on 
suspicion  of  having  received  the  money  from  some 
counter-revolutionary  organisation.  He  is  kept 
in  prison  for  several  months.  A  delicate  woman 
is  kept  three  days  in  prison  for  having  too  large 
a  supply  of  white  flour  in  her  house.  She  got  it 
for  a  dying  father  and  a  sick  sister  by  selling 
valuable  household  goods.  She  was  "  denounced  M 
by  a  former  servant  who  occupies  a  room  in  the 
same  house  though  he  is  not  now  in  their  service. 
This  Extraordinary  Commission  has  its  agents 
everywhere,  in  every  organisation  and  at  every 
public  gathering  ;  and  nobody  can  be  sure  of 
his  neighbour  or  even  of  his  friend.  It  has  its  own 
soldiers,  who  enjoy  better  rations  than  the  men  at 
the  front,  its  own  prisons  and  its  "  secret  police." 
It  formerly  had  the  power  of  life  and  death,  and  has 
executed  thousands  of  persons  without  trial. 
Though  nominally  that  power  has  been  taken 
from  it  and  handed  over  to  the  Revolutionary 
Tribunals,  it  is  by  no  means  clear  that  the  power 
does  not  actually  remain.  In  any  case,  the 
Revolutionary  Tribunals  work  in  complete  sym- 
pathy with  the  Commission,  so  there  is  no  real 
change. 


156        Through  Bolshevik  Russia 

The  Extraordinary  Commission  works  inde- 
pendently of  the  Government  and  is  so  strong, 
thanks  to  the  fear  created  by  the  war,  that  it  is 
regarded  as  the  Government  in  everything  that 
matters.  It  was  said  that  there  is  nobody  in 
Russia  who  does  not  go  in  fear  of  it  except  Lenin. 
I  have  no  means  of  testing  this,  of  course  ;  but 
I  know  that  everybody  I  met  in  Russia  outside 
the  Communist  party  goes  in  terror  of  his  liberty 
or  his  life.  The  pervading  fear  worked  terribly 
on  the  subconscious  selves  of  some  of  us,  and 
we  lived  hourly  in  a  spirit  of  hot  hate  of  the 
cruelties  and  tyrannies  which  met  us  at  every  turn. 

The  fair  young  English  girl  who  came  to  beg 
us  to  help  her  and  her  baby  to  her  friends  in 
England,  told  us  calmly  but  pathetically  that  her 
husband  had  been  shot  in  prison. 

"  I  do  not  know  why,"  she  said.  "  He  was  ot 
political.  He  never  talked  politics  to  me.  He 
translated  for  the  Russians  in  the  army  of  Juden- 
itch.    But  he  was  sent  there  by  the  Government." 

Poor  thing.  Her  husband  was  possibly  guilty. 
But  he  had  had  no  trial.  She  had  lost  him  by 
violence.  And  she  herself  was  threatened  with 
starvation  and  was  refused  permission  to  leave 
the  country. 

Two  hundred  and  forty-one  anarchists  we  heard 
were  shot  out  of  hand  in  Petrograd,  the  new 
order  against  capital  punishment  being  kept  back 
until  this  had  been  done. 


The  Suppression  of  Liberty       157 

We  were  very  glad  of  an  opportunity  of  meeting 
those  who  claimed  to  speak  authoritatively  for  the 
Commission,  for  the  confession  of  shooting 
without  trial  ten  thousand  persons  admitted  in 
the  Government's  organ,  Isvestia,  had  been 
deeply  distressing  to  us. 

"  Is  it  true,"  the  chairman  was  asked,  "  that 
the  Extraordinary  Commission  has  shot  ten 
thousand  people  without  trial  ?  " 

' '  No,  it  is  not  true .  The  number  is  exaggerated . 
Only  eight  thousand  five  hundred  were  shot,  and 
not  without  trial.  They  were  brought  before 
the  Revolutionary  Tribunals  and  examined." 
This  answer  was  said  to  be  quite  untrue  by 
credible  persons  to  whom  it  was  reported. 
Not  only  was  a  much  greater  number  than  ten 
thousand  put  to  death  without  trial,  but  many 
were  shot  in  their  cells  in  circumstances  of 
cruelty,  and  their  relatives  were  refused  infor- 
mation about  them.  I  met  one  woman  whose 
husband  had  disappeared  from  prison  in  suspicious 
circumstances  and  who  was  afterwards  discovered 
to  have  been  shot  for  selling  something  at  a  profit 
of  a  few  shillings  in  English  money.  This 
private  trading  is  what  is  meant  by  "  speculating." 

The  chairman  of  the  Commission  had  said  in 
his  opening  address  that  there  was  perfect  liberty 
of  speech  and  action  in  the  country.  As  I  knew 
that  a  real  terror  existed  I  suggested  to  him  that, 


158        Through  Bolshevik  Russia 

in  all  probability,  the  arrest  of  certain  persons 
for  imagined  or  trivial  offences  was  due  to  the 
exaggerated  zeal  of  ignorant  minor  officials  work- 
ing under  the  Commission.  The  reply  was  that 
this  could  not  be  so,  since  the  agents  who  behaved 
like  this  would  be  punished  very  severely.  I  did 
not  consider  the  answer  conclusive,  nor  an 
explanation  of  the  terror. 

"  Why,"  I  asked,  "  have  many  people  expressed 
a  fear  of  coming  to  see  us  ?  And  when  they 
come,  why  are  they  afraid  to  speak  with  perfect 
confidence  ?  " 

"  Because,"  said  this  clever  person,  sarcastic 
and  evasive,  "  English  people  have  been  here 
before  and  have  tempted  our  people  into  counter- 
revolutionary activities  which  have  got  them  into 
very  serious  difficulties.  They  do  not  want  to  be 
caught  again." 

I  ventured  to  ask  one  more  question.  "  Does 
the  Extraordinary  Commission  maintain  spies 
and  agents -provacateurs  for  its  work  ?  " 

To  this  an  absolute  denial  was  given.  "  But," 
he  continued,  "  every  good  citizen  considers 
himself  under  an  obligation  to  report  to  the 
Commission  everything  he  sees  which  he  con- 
siders to  be  of  a  counter-revolutionary  nature." 

It  was  denied  that  any  conscientious  objector 
had  been  shot.  It  was  denied  that  anybody  had 
been  shot  without  trial.    It  was  denied  that  any 


The  Suppression  of  Liberty       159 

great  tyranny  was  exercised.  It  was  declared 
that  the  object  of  the  Extraordinary  Commission 
was  to  protect  perfect  liberty  of  speech  outside 
of  those  who  were  fomenting  armed  opposition 
to  the  Republic. 

The  independent  translator  who  was  with  us  on 
this  occasion  said  before  leaving  the  room,  her 
eyes  swimming  with  tears  :  "  It  is  hard  for  me 
to  hear  these  replies  and  be  able  to  say  nothing." 

I  left  the  room  cold  with  horror  and  dislike,  for 
I  knew  without  the  implication  of  the  inter- 
preter's words  that  much  of  what  had  been  said 
to  us  was  absolutely  untrue. 

There  had  been  held  a  few  days  before  this 
a  meeting  of  Mensheviki,  or  moderate  Socialists, 
the  members  of  the  old  Social  Democratic  party. 
The  meeting  was  held  under  the  auspices  of  the 
Printers'  Union, abody  numbering  seventy  thousand 
members  in  Russia.  This  meeting  was  attended 
by  some  thousands  of  persons,  including  (as  I  was 
informed)  about  three  hundred  Communists,  a 
noisy  little  group  in  the  heart  of  the  gathering. 

I  was  not  myself  present,  but  I  give  the  story  as 
I  had  it  from  one  of  the  members  of  the  British 
Delegation,  not  himself  in  sympathy  with  the 
Mensheviki. 

The  Communists  had  telegraphed  to  England 
that  the  British  Delegates  had  attended  a  public 
meeting  at  which  they  heard  in  perfect  freedom 


160       Through  Bolshevik  Russia 

the  great  Menshevik,  Tchernoff,  make  a  speech. 
The  facts  of  the  case  are  these. 

An  unknown  man  made  a  passionately  eloquent 
speech  which  was  greatly  applauded  by  the  vast 
body  of  the  meeting  and  frequently  interrupted 
by  the  Communists  present.  At  the  end  of  his 
speech  the  audience  loudly  demanded  his  name. 
He  hesitated.  He  was  strongly  pressed  not  to 
give  it.  He  then  stepped  forward,  and  in  ringing 
tones  announced  :  "  My  name  is  Tchernoff." 
Instantaneously  the  vast  audience  broke  into 
tumultuous  applause,  during  which  Tchernoff 
made  his  escape.  The  leading  Communist 
present  fumed,  and  declared  loudly  he  would 
have  Tchernoff  arrested.  He  had  come  to  the 
meeting  with  his  pocket  full  of  warrants  ! 

But  Tchernoff  had  gone.  And  the  circum- 
stances of  his  coming  and  going  were  interesting 
in  view  of  the  claim  of  free  speech.  For  fifteen 
minutes  before  his  speech  nobody  was  allowed 
to  enter  the  hall.  For  fifteen  minutes  after  he 
got  away,  nobody  was  allowed  to  go  out.  The 
telephone  wires  had  been  disconnected  so  that 
no  communication  with  the  police  could  be  made. 

Tchernoff's  wife  and  children  were  arrested  as 
hostages,  but  afterwards  released.  He  himself 
lives  in  a  garret  in  Moscow,  and  was  seen  by 
one  of  the  Delegates  in  a  condition  of  starvation. 

After  the  British  Delegates  left  Russia  several 


The  Suppression  of  Liberty       161 

of  those  who  organised  and  addressed  these 
meetings  were  arrested.  And  so  it  is  everywhere 
and  all  the  time.  The  people  are  afraid  of  the 
police  and  spies,  the  spies  are  afraid  of  one  another. 
All  dwell  in  an  atmosphere  of  suspicion,  and  the 
Red  Terror  is  a  terrible  reality.  And  it  is  no 
consolation  to  me  to  learn,  as  I  did,  that  the 
White  Terror  was  even  worse.  I  am  absolutely 
satisfied  on  the  evidence  I  have  seen,  that  where 
the  Red  Terror  has  slain  its  thousands  the  White 
Terror  has  destroyed  its  tens  of  thousands. 

Evidence  which  will  shortly  be  published  in  great 
detail  will  establish  beyond  doubt  the  enormous 
atrocities  committed  by  Koltchak  and  Denikin 
in  their  cruel  marches  across  the  country,  especially 
against  the  Jews.  Men,  women  and  children  in 
hundreds  in  every  district  in  their  respective 
areas  were  hanged,  shot  or  tortured  on  the  mere 
suspicion  of  belonging  to  or  aiding  with  food  and 
clothing  a  member  of  the  Red  Army  or  the  Com- 
munist party.  Innocent  persons  whose  beliefs 
and  activities  were  never  even  enquired  into  were 
murdered  to  discourage  the  population.  The 
peasants  were  everywhere  robbed  with  violence. 
The  neglected  troops  of  Koltchak,  themselves 
decimated  by  disease  and  filth,  spread  typhus 
and  small-pox  amongst  the  unhappy  people. 
Instead  of  burning  or  burying  the  corpses,  the 
bodies    were    packed    into    warehouses,    or    left 


162        Through  Bolshevik  Russia 

lying  about ;  and  in  one  district,  in  less  than  a 
dozen  versts,  ten  thousand  corpses  were  picked 
up  by  the  Red  Army  when  it  drove  back  the 
rebels. 

One  more  story  only  let  me  tell.  It  concerns 
the  sister  of  one  of  the  People's  Commissars  and 
that  sister's  husband.  She  lived  in  a  little  town 
in  the  Volga  basin.  During  the  march  of  Koltchak 
her  home  was  invaded,  and  she  and  her  husband, 
with  twenty  others,  were  thrown  into  prison.  After 
a  while,  they  were  taken  out  into  the  bitterly 
cold  night  and,  without  trial,  shot.  The  White 
soldiers  bayoneted  them  to  be  sure  the  work  was 
done,  and  retired. 

By  the  most  marvellous  accident,  the  husband 
was  not  killed.  His  hand  had  been  shot  away, 
and  the  bayonet  had  entered  his  side,  but  he  was 
living.  He  waited  till  all  was  dark  and  quiet. 
He  bent  over  his  wife,  but  she  was  quite  dead. 
Then  he  crawled  softly  away,  and  very  weak, 
reached  his  home.  He  found  his  little  daughter 
of  five  sleeping,  but  safe.  He  dared  not  stay 
longer  than  to  have  his  bleeding  hand  bound, 
for  they  would  come  at  dawn  and  count  the  bodies, 
and  his  would  be  missing.  So  he  went  to  the 
mayor,  and  the  mayor  contrived  his  escape.  And 
the  man  is  now  in  Moscow,  as  one  may  well 
imagine,  a  stern  supporter  of  the  Government, 
and  not  unready  for  reprisals. 


The  Suppression  of  Liberty        163 

I  am  inclined  to  believe  that  much  of  the 
support  of  the  Bolsheviki  is  due  to  the  fear  that 
their  overthrow  would  mean  the  coming  of  a 
great  White  Terror  that  would  be  infinitely 
worse  than  the  thing  they  are  enduring.  The 
fiery  threats  of  exiled  Russians,  the  distressing 
activities  in  Russia  of  British  agents,  and,  I  am 
afraid,  the  wicked  suggestions  to  certain  European 
Governments,  that  a  "  Jewish  pogrom  in  Russia 
would  bring  the  Bolshevik  Government  to  the 
ground,"  give  some  justification  for  the  fear. 
Not  till  one  side  or  the  other  declines  to  take 
revenge  will  the  awful  see-saw  of  horrors  be 
discontinued,  and  a  normal  government  by  con- 
sent be  substituted  for  the  systems  based  on  power 
and  domination. 


CHAPTER  XIV 
Down  the  Volga 

IT  was  at  the  suggestion  of  one  of  the  Delegates 
that  the  Bolsheviki  kindly  arranged  a  trip 
down  the  Volga,  that  great  central  waterway  which 
flows  for  nearly  two  thousand  miles  to  the  Caspian 
Sea,  and  which  is  fifty  miles  broad  where  it 
empties  itself  into  this  great  lake.  We  went  in 
our  special  train,  accompanied  by  interpreters, 
agents,  secretaries  and  journalists,  a  party  of 
thirty  to  forty  people,  all  anticipating  a  good  time, 
to  the  famous  city  of  Nijni-Novgorod.  The  plan 
was  to  take  the  steamer  there  and  go  to  Saratov, 
calling  at  towns  and  villages  on  the  way,  and 
returning  by  train  to  Moscow.  It  was  estimated 
the  trip  would  occupy  six  days. 

There  is  no  longer  any  great  Fair  at  Nijni- 
Novgorod.  Foreign  trade  has  practically  stopped, 
owing  to  the  breakdown  of  communications.  The 
booths  are  empty  and  closed.  The  streets  in  this 
part  of  the  city  are  neglected  and  untidy.  The 
coloured  domes  of  the  churches  glitter  and 
sparkle  with  the  old,  quaint  loveliness,  but  the 

164 


Down  the  Volga  165 

city  is  the  centre  of  what  has  been  described  as 
"  a  starving  province,"  and  is  as  sad  as  the  rest 
of  Russia. 

The  usual  Trade  Union  deputations,  with 
soldiers,  banners,  bands  and  speeches  met  us  at 
the  railway  station.  We  were  shown  over  the 
great  Somova  iron-works,  and  made  speeches 
to  the  hungry-looking  workpeople.  We  were 
informed  that  it  is  difficult  to  keep  down  the 
spirit  of  rebellion  here  ;  but  this  one  would  have 
expected  of  the  population  of  Nijni-Novgorod, 
with  its  history  of  democratic  struggles  in  the 
past.  Unlike  the  men  at  the  Putiloff  Works, 
these  men  complain,  not  only  of  hunger,  but 
of  the  incapable  bureaucracy  which  is  keeping 
back  production. 

We  had  a  great  public  meeting  in  the  theatre 
in  the  evening,  following  a  dinner  given  us  by 
the  Soviet  and  Trade  Unions,  and,  after  the 
speeches,  we  formed  into  a  procession,  and 
followed  by  numbers  of  the  townspeople  as  well 
as  the  audience,  and  accompanied  by  several 
regiments  of  soldiers,  we  marched  down  to  the 
s.s.  Bielinsky  which  was  to  take  us  on  our  voyage. 
The  procession  marched  all  round  the  higher 
part  of  the  town  that  we  might  see  the  finest 
buildings  and  the  splendid  view  from  the  heights 
above  the  river,  singing  revolutionary  songs  all 
the  way. 


166        Through  Bolshevik  Russia 

The  summer  days  are  hot  but  the  nights  are 
bitterly  cold  on  the  Upper  Volga.  One  of  our 
number  neglected  himself,  and  contracted  pleurisy 
and  pneumonia  within  twenty-four  hours  of  out- 
setting  sail,  and  his  illness  obliged  some  of  us  to 
go  forward  to  Astrakhan  and  return  the  same  way 
to  Saratov.  The  organisation  of  the  steamship, 
a  magnificent  vessel,  was  mystifying  to  us.  First 
there  was  the  recognised  commander.  Then  there 
was  Sverdloff,  the  Acting- Commissar  for  Ways 
and  Communications,  who  appeared  to  be  the 
highest  authority  ;  then  came  the  Trade  Union 
Delegate  who  travels  with  the  ship  ;  then  the  man 
in  charge  of  our  party,  who  seemed  to  be  armed 
with  authority  over  the  crew  as  well.  There  were 
occasions  when  orders  conflicted,  and  the  result 
was  very  funny.  After  the  great  bulk  of  the  people 
left  at  Saratov  the  ship's  human  machinery  ran 
with  greater  smoothness. 

A  trip  on  the  Volga  was  supposed  to  be  one  of 
the  great  experiences  of  the  rich  traveller  before 
the  war.  It  is  an  experience  anyone  may  be 
very  glad  and  proud  to  have  had.  More  of  the 
heart  and  soul  of  Russia  lies  on  each  bank  of  this 
mighty  river  than  can  be  found  in  Russia's 
cosmopolitan  cities.  The  country  is  low  and 
fertile,  except  for  the  desert  stretches  of  the 
lower  reaches.  The  green  of  its  grass  is  a  bright 
emerald.     Its   roads   and   farm-buildings   are   a 


Down  the  Volga  167 

consistent  brown,  like  its  sun- tanned,  wind- 
bitten  peasant  people.  Wild  horses  roam  the 
steppes  with  the  Cossacks  and  Tartar  tribes, 
some  of  whom  live  close  to  the  river,  their  brown, 
substantial  houses  seeming  to  rise  straight  out  of 
the  water  in  the  estuary  of  the  Volga.  The  enor- 
mous rafts  which  float  slowly  down  the  river, 
composed  of  the  trunks  of  great  trees  bound 
together,  are  things  of  wonder.  They  are  of 
enormous  size.  Whole  families  live  on  them,  and 
huts  have  been  erected  on  them  for  shelter.  It 
takes  weeks,  even  months  for  these  rafts  to  creep 
down  the  river  to  the  places  for  which  they  are 
bound.  Often  the  rafts  are  built  the  shape  of  a 
boat  and  so  sent  floating  to  their  destination. 

The  friendly  people  waved  us  their  hand- 
kerchiefs as  we  passed.  The  passion  for  art  of 
the  Russian  everywhere  showed  itself  in  the 
decoration  with  green  branches  of  these  rafts, 
of  our  own  handsome  steamer,  and  of  the  railway 
trains  in  which  we  travelled. 

We  called  at  many  little  villages  or  larger  towns 
on  the  way  down  the  river.  The  banks  of  the 
river  and  the  plains  beyond  teem  with  people. 
It  was  no  lonely  prairie  that  we  gazed  upon  as  we 
floated  idly.  The  millions  of  dead  fish  in  the  river 
were  symbolic  of  the  country's  past  state  and 
present  suffering,  and  of  its  fearful  fate  if  left  too 
long  without  substantial   help.     Nobody   could 


i68        Through  Bolshevik  Russia 

tell  us  authentically  why  those  fish  had  died 
Could  the  cholera  germ  have  worked  this  miracle 
of  death  ?  Or  was  it  Koltchak's  poison  gas  ?  Their 
numbers  made  them  remarkable. 

Our  talks  with  the  peasant  men  and  women 
revealed  the  fact  that  they  were  not  Communists 
in  the  Marxian  sense,  scarcely  Communist  in 
any  sense.  They  were  content  not  to  quarrel 
with  the  Government  because  it  was  so  much 
better  than  the  regime  of  Koltchak,  whom  they 
hated  ;  and  because  of  the  war.  They  grumbled 
at  the  requisitions  of  food,  and  hated  the  soldiers 
sent  to  collect  it.  But  they  were  amenable  to 
persuasion.  One  friend  of  the  peasants,  a  Com- 
munist, told  me  that  he  was  sent  by  the  Govern- 
ment to  talk  to  the  peasants,  because  he  was  so 
successful  in  persuading  them  to  give  up  their 
spare  produce.  He  was  a  man  of  quiet  and 
gentle  manner  whom  it  would  be  difficult  at  all 
times  to  resist. 

The  peasants  we  saw  were  a  big,  blond,  stalwart 
race,  with  any  quantity  of  shaggy,  curly  hair  and 
with  matted  beards.  Their  features  were  Slav. 
They  had  large  mouths,  thick  lips  and  broad 
noses.  They  wore  high  boots,  much  the  worse 
for  wear,  and  smocks  with  broad  belts.  Their 
women  were  big  for  the  most  part,  pleasant  and 
round-faced,  and  their  legs  were  bound  in  what 
looked   like   white   canvas  which   gave   them   a 


Down  the  Volga  169 

tubular  appearance.  They  wore  canvas  or  felt 
shoes,  very  inadequate  for  country  roads.  Their 
aprons  and  blouses  were  amazingly  white  in  one 
village,  which  gave  one  the  impression  that  there 
they  probably  made  their  own  soap.  The  children 
were  attractive  replica  of  their  parents.  One 
small  boy  showed  us  proudly  that  he  could  write 
his  own  name  in  a  good  hand. 

Whenever  we  left  the  ship,  we  did  so  between 
two  lines  of  peasants  with  country  produce  for 
sale,  eggs,  milk  and  fruit ;  so  there  was  no  lack 
of  food  on  this  river  trip. 

We  talked  to  the  peasants  about  the  land.  They 
were  happier  than  before  for  they  had  now  more 
land,  and  all  had  some.  The  big  estates  had  been 
broken  up  and  divided  amongst  them.  Nominally 
it  was  the  State's  land,  but  it  would  have  been 
counter-revolutionary  propaganda  to  have  said 
this  aloud.  Really  there  is  a  system  of  peasant 
proprietorship,  with  the  substantial  difference  that 
the  peasant  may  not  part  with  his  land  for  money. 
If  he  works  it  well,  it  remains  undisturbed  in  his 
possession  and  usually  it  goes  to  the  son  after  the 
father.  The  local  Soviet  settles  land  disputes, 
and  we  were  the  interested  spectators  in  the 
adjudication  of  one  quarrel. 

One  little  house  we  entered  was  very  clean  and 
neat,  but  the  rooms  were  too  dark  and  too  small, 
and  too  many  people  lived  in  the  house.    We  were 


170       Through  Bolshevik  Russia 

told  that  this  specimen  was  very  much  above  the 
average.  In  every  room  was  an  ikon,  and  in  every 
village  a  church,  crowded  with  worshippers, 
filled  with  expensive  things.  Truly,  the  Com- 
missars would  be  well  advised  to  commandeer 
and  not  condemn  the  institution  which  has  so 
great  a  grip  on  the  lives  and  affections  of  the 
people. 

I  am  reminded  here  of  a  curious  and  beautiful 
adventure  of  ours,  a  few  versts  on  this  side  of 
Astrakhan.  It  was  two  in  the  morning,  with  a 
bright  round  moon  in  the  sky,  when  the  ship 
stopped  and  boats  were  lowered.  A  violin  softly 
played,  and  the  crooning  of  their  Volga  songs  by 
the  boatmen  added  charm  to  the  scene.  We 
took  to  the  boat  and  landed  on  the  right  bank 
of  the  river.  Millions  of  crickets  chirped  in 
the  grass.  In  the  distance  a  bullfrog  croaked 
himself  hoarse.  Suddenly  there  came  upon  our 
view  the  outlines  of  an  Eastern  building.  Its 
cupola  shone  in  the  moonlight.  It  was  a  Buddhist 
temple. 

We  marched  up  to  the  door  and  entered,  much 
to  the  concern  of  the  priest,  who  feared,  doubtless, 
a  revolutionary  attack  upon  his  person  and  the 
church.  He  was  a  quaint  old  man,  round  and 
stout,  dressed  in  a  bright  red  robe,  his  good- 
natured,  Chinese-looking  face  adding  to  the 
novelty  of  the  scene.    He  was  a  Kalmuk,  and  his 


Down  the  Volga  171 

ministry  extended  over  a  population  of  ten 
thousand  Kalmuks,  living  in  the  little  town  beyond . 
It  was  an  amazing  thing  to  discover  this  little 
bit  of  Asia  in  Europe. 

The  Kalmuks  are  an  attractive  race  in  appear- 
ance, clean,  strong  and  efficient-looking.  The 
women  have  glossy  black  hair  which  they  wear 
neatly  in  two  braids.  Their  children  are  chubby 
and  well  fed,  with  slanting  brown  eyes  and  olive 
skins.  We  left  this  temple  and  its  people  possessed 
of  several  tiny  brass  gods  and  holy  pictures  with 
which  the  priest  appeared  not  unwilling  to  part. 

At  Samara  some  of  us  went  to  inspect  a 
children's  colony  outside  the  town.  As  usual, 
it  was  the  expropriated  dwelling  of  a  former  rich 
citizen.  Indeed,  several  houses  were  devoted  to 
this  good  purpose.  The  woman  Communist 
who  kindly  conducted  us  had  all  the  smiling  good 
nature  of  her  race.  She  was  evidently  devoted  to 
the  children,  and  proud  of  what  had  been  accom- 
plished. She  was  obviously  in  great  need  of  new 
clothes.  Her  legs  were  bare.  One  poor  sock  was 
falling  over  her  shoe  top.  The  naked  toes  were 
peeping  out  of  the  other  shoe.  Her  jacket  was  the 
last  word  in  shabbiness.  Yet  she  was  bright  and 
cheerful  as  a  bird  and  infinitely  pathetic  as  she 
asked  me,  with  pride  in  her  voice  :  "  Have  you 
anything  like  this  (meaning  the  summer  school) 
in  England  ?  " 


i72        Through  Bolshevik  Russia 

We  drove  back  to  the  ship  impressed  with 
the  pluck  and  cleverness  of  those  heroic  people 
making  bricks  without  straw.  A  great  wind- 
storm caught  us.  The  dust  whirled  about  our 
heads.  The  rain  began  to  fall.  I  hid  behind 
a  bank  of  flowers,  which  had  been  given  us,  to 
avoid  seeing  the  half-eaten  corpse  of  a  dead 
dromedary  as  well  as  to  shelter  from  the  rain.  We 
reached  the  steamship.  The  whistle  hooted, 
and  off  we  went  to  the  next  scene. 

Saratov  is  the  finest  city  we  saw  on  the  Volga. 
It  is  a  great  deal  cleaner  than  most,  and  compares 
in  this  very  favourably  with  Tsaritzin.  But 
Tzaritzin  has  experienced  more  of  the  depre- 
dations and  disorders  of  the  Koltchak  bands, 
so  must  be  excused. 

It  was  at  Saratov  we  discovered  the  origin  of 
that  silly  story  of  the  nationalisation  of  women. 
Whoever  knows  the  Russian  woman  would 
wonder  if  she  had  changed  to  allow  herself  to  be 
nationalised.  I  could  not  imagine  those  huge 
women  fish-curers  and  net-makers  at  Astrakhan 
tolerating  for  one  second  of  time  any  such  gross 
interference  with  their  personal  liberty  ;  nor  the 
gentle  Kalmuk  women,  nor  the  self-respecting 
peasant  wives.  There  is  not  one  atom  of  truth  in 
the  story,  and  those  who  repeat  it  cover  themselves 
with  discredit.  The  story  had  its  origin  in 
Saratov,  where  a  tiny  anarchist  sect  had  for  one  of 


Down  the  Volga  173 

their  remote  objects  a  state  of  society  in  which  men 
and  women  would  dispense  with  marriage  in  their 
relationships  with  one  another.  It  was  unscrupu- 
lous propaganda  to  place  this  upon  the  Bolshevik 
Government. 

It  is  true  that  marriage  laws  have  been  altered. 
Marriage  is  very  cheap  now,  since  only  a  State 
ceremony  is  needed.  Divorce  is  very  easy,  but 
equal  for  all  classes  and  both  sexes.  The  children 
are  the  first  concern  of  the  State,  and  illegitimate 
children  are  not  penalised.  But  there  is  nothing 
relative  to  marriage  in  Russia  which  is  not  true 
of  some  Western  state  ;  and  it  is  believed  that 
with  the  reorganisation  of  life  on  a  sound  economic 
basis,  prostitution  will  entirely  disappear,  as  it  has 
certainly  been  considerably  reduced.  The  women 
of  Russia  are  not  very  happy,  but  their  misery 
is  not  due  to  any  sex-tyranny  or  Government 
brutality.  It  is  due  to  the  lack  of  food  and  cloth- 
ing for  themselves  and  their  families,  and  to  the 
bitter  cold  which  makes  their  work  in  the  home 
so  hard. 

For  during  last  winter  almost  everybody  lived 
in  his  house  in  a  temperature  of  five  degrees  of 
frost.  Tender  children  and  old  people  died  like 
flies,  of  simple  cold.  Frost-bitten  hands  and  feet 
and  the  consequent  loss  of  fingers  and  toes  was  a 
common  occurrence.  Pipes  were  frozen,  and  when 
the  thaw  came,  broke,  everything  in  the  house 


174        Through  Bolshevik  Russia 

being  destroyed.  There  were  no  materials  for 
repairs.  Waiting  in  the  long  queues  their  turn  at 
the  baker's  shop,  trying  to  keep  children  and  home 
clean  without  soap,  having  to  go  long  distances 
for  water,  without  coal  and  wood  to  cook  and  clean, 
with  children  crying  for  milk  or  food,  little  bodies 
frozen  for  lack  of  blankets — these  are  the  real 
griefs  of  women  in  Russia,  and  not  the  ludicrous 
stories  of  imaginary  wrongs. 

We  called  at  Kazan  on  our  way  down  the  river, 
and  here  we  had  a  curiously  funny  experience. 
At  Kazan,  and  increasingly  as  we  descended  the 
river,  we  were  plagued  with  flies.  They  were  so 
numerous,  these  tiny  little  beasts,  that  they  made 
a  misty  curtain  round  us,  and  filled  eyes  and 
mouths  and  ears  in  a  most  irritating  fashion. 

We  walked  from  the  boat  for  about  a  quarter 
of  a  mile,  ploughing  our  way  through  deep  sand, 
to  the  place  which  had  been  appointed  for  our 
reception.  We  walked  between  lines  of  soldiers 
and  sailors  standing  strictly  to  attention.  The 
local  Commissars  were  late,  so  the  lesser  officials 
thought  it  wise  to  begin,  as  the  flies  were  trouble- 
some and  the  English  guests  were  not  used  to 
them. 

A  ramshackle  droshky,  with  an  old  Chinese 
driver,  was  commandeered  for  a  platform.  One 
of  our  speakers  mounted,  and,  standing  on  the 
seat,  commenced  his  oration.    The  horse  showed 


Down  the  Volga  175 

a  tendency  to  bolt  at  every  sentence,  whether 
because  of  the  flies  or  the  unknown  language  it 
is  not  quite  certain.  The  sentences  came  explos- 
ively, as  every  movement  of  the  animal  jerked 
the  orator  off  his  balance.  The  old  Chinaman 
seized  a  large  twig  branch  from  a  man  who  was 
fanning  himself  and  tried  to  keep  the  horse  quiet 
by  driving  away  the  flies.  Round  about  our  heads 
surged  and  hummed  masses  of  flies.  We  shook 
ourselves,  we  smoked,  we  did  a  great  many  things 
besides  ;  but  the  flies  remained,  and  the  speeches, 
one  after  another,  went  on  with  interminable 
eloquence.  For  a  solid  two  hours  we  stood 
there  suffering  and  grinning  at  the  Chinaman, 
the  flies,  the  absurd  seriousness  of  everybody, 
the  familiar  phrases  :  "  Long  live  the  Proletarian 
Revolution."  "  Long  live  the  Soviet  Republic." 
"  Long  live  Lenin  and  Trotsky." 

At  last  we  were  released,  to  learn  that  a  great 
demonstration  of  eighty  thousand  troops  had 
been  arranged  for  the  following  day.  We  could 
not  stay,  however,  and  bade  our  friends  a  warm 
good-bye  ;  the  flies  also,  but  for  a  different 
reason. 

Seriously,  though,  the  insect  life  of  that  part  of 
Russia  is  incredible.  It  is  no  exaggeration  to  say 
that  at  Astrakhan,  when  the  meal  was  finished, 
the  big  black  flies  on  the  table  were  so  many  that 
it  looked  as  though  we  had  dined  off  a  black  in- 


176        Through  Bolshevik  Russia 

stead  of  a  white  tablecloth.  The  mosquitoes  are 
so  vicious  and  poisonous  that  they  often  give  one 
malaria,  and  the  lice  are  inveterate  conveyers  of 
typhus. 

Astrakhan  is  the  dirtiest  city  it  has  been  my  lot 
to  visit.  Cesspools  and  stagnant  water  pollute  the 
streets.  Piles  of  human  excrement  lie  about  every- 
where. The  water-supply  is  thoroughly  poisoned. 
The  market-places  are  abodes  of  filth.  And  it 
appears  to  be  nobody's  business  to  alter  this 
state  of  affairs.  Astrakhan  and  cities  like  it  should 
come  under  the  supervision  of  an  international 
Board  of  Health  if  their  governments  are  powerless 
to  alter  things,  for  they  are  a  menace  to  the  well- 
being  of  the  whole  world.  Cholera  coming  up 
the  river  from  Astrakhan  could  poison  all  Europe 
in  time,  and  may  yet  do  so  unless  something  drastic 
be  done. 

But  Astrakhan  is  becoming  busy  again.  Its 
shipping  is  very  active.  We  saw  the  loading  of 
rice  arid  fish,  the  curing  of  herrings,  the  prepara- 
tion of  caviare,  the  making  of  nets,  the  ferry-boats 
loaded  with  passengers,  a  general  air  of  liveliness 
which  contrasted  so  favourably  with  the  deadness 
of  Petrograd.  Persian  carpets  are  to  be  bought 
for  a  mere  song  in  Astrakhan,  and  antique 
treasures  of  all  kinds  for  the  equivalent  in  English 
of  a  few  shillings  or  pounds. 

The  temperature  at  Astrakhan  was  122  degrees 


Down  the  Volga  177 

in  the  shade  when  we  were  there,  and  we  simply 
wilted  under  the  blazing  sun.  We  talked  of 
Siberian  snows  and  American  ice  cream  to  try 
to  make  ourselves  feel  cool,  when  to  our  pleased 
surprise,  the  magician,  Sverdloff,  contrived  to 
conjure  ice  cream  out  of  the  kitchen  and  so  saved 
our  lives  for  another  day's  work. 

Those  last  days  on  the  Volga  were  very  happy, 
in  spite  of  heat  and  flies  and  the  anxiety  we  felt  for 
our  sick  friend.  The  tumultuous  crowd  had  left 
us  at  Saratov ;  the  atmosphere  of  politics  dis- 
appeared ;  our  talk  was  of  more  interesting  things ; 
we  sang  our  folk-songs  and  read  our  books.  In 
the  hot  evenings  on  the  way  back,  we  sat  at  the 
front  of  the  ship  facing  the  glorious  red  sunset, 
and  thought  of  home  and  of  dear  old  England, 
and  of  the  kindly  spirit  which  rules  where  peace 
and  plenty  abound. 


CHAPTER  XV 
The  Future  of  Russia 

THE  Delegation  having  been  divided  through 
the  unfortunate  sickness  of  one  of  their 
number,  we  left  the  country  and  returned  to 
England  in  several  groups  and  by  different 
routes.  The  group  of  which  I  was  a  member 
took  train  at  Saratov,  and  was  enabled  to  go  all 
the  way  through  to  Reval  without  a  change. 
The  country  looked  pleasant  and  peaceful.  Large 
herds  of  cows  were  a  frequent  feature  of  a  pros- 
perous-looking landscape — for  it  cannot  be  too 
often  impressed  that  the  country  is  not  lacking 
in  food  so  much  as  clothing  and  other  goods, 
and  that  if  the  means  of  transportation  were 
better  the  peasants  could  supply  much  more  to 
the  towns.  The  green  of  the  fields  looked  inviting 
after  the  brown  of  the  river.  The  cool  winds 
of  the  plains  blew  in  on  us  through  the  carriage 
windows  and  were  a  grateful  relief  after  the 
shimmering  heat  of  Astrakhan  and  the  lower 
reaches  of  the  Volga. 

178 


The  Future  of  Russia  179 

Having  little  to  do  but  prepare  our  meals  after 
Moscow  was  left  behind,  we  discussed  with  one 
another  our  impressions.  We  speculated  upon 
the  possible  change  of  view  which  might  have 
been  effected  in  some  of  us  by  our  experiences. 
What  should  we  say  to  the  people  who  had  sent 
us  out  ?  And  what  ought  we  to  say  to  the  great 
working-class  public  at  home  anxious  to  have 
our  report  ?  One  thing  we  were  unanimous  in 
hoping  :  That  nothing  might  be  said  or  done 
that  would  make  it  more  difficult  for  peace  with 
Russia  to  be  concluded  speedily.  Never  for  a 
second  was  there  a  shade  of  difference  amongst 
the  Delegates  that  the  war  was  a  crime  in  its 
inception  and  a  blunder  in  its  continuance.  But 
on  other  matters  we  differed.  Some  came  out  of 
Russia  filled  with  uncritical  enthusiasm  for  the 
Bolsheviki  ;  others  were  bitterly  disappointed 
in  their  expectations  ;  others  again  were  con- 
firmed in  former  opinions. 

As  we  approached  the  frontier  once  more,  I 
put  my  head  out  of  the  window  to  take  a  last  look 
at  the  Red  Flag.  There  it  was  gaily  waving 
in  the  wind.  A  colleague  started  to  whistle  a 
familiar  air. 

"  What  is  that  you  are  whistling  ?  "  I  asked, 
"  a  last  verse  of  '  The  Internationale '  ?  " 

"  No,"  he  replied  with  a  wry  smile,  "  a  new 
verse  of  the  Red  Flag." 


180        Through  Bolshevik  Russia 

We  were  curious  and  he  obliged  us  with  the 
words  : 

"  The  people's  flag  is  palest  pink, 
It's  not  so  red  as  you  might  think  ; 
We've  been  to  see,  and  now  we  know 
They've  been  and  changed  its  colour  so  " 

"So,  my  irreverent  friend,  that  is  how  you 
feel,  is  it  ?  "  I  asked,  feeling  that  I  understood. 

"  It  is,"  he  replied.  "  I  went  out  without  the 
slightest  bias  in  the  world  against  what  I  regarded 
as  a  very  big  thing,  the  establishment  of  a  great 
Socialist  Republic,  and  I  have  come  out  with  a 
deep  feeling  of  disappointment.  There  is  practi- 
cally no  Socialism  in  Russia  worthy  of  the  name. 
And  the  people  are  utterly  wretched." 

I  could  see  that  his  flippant  mood  covered  a 
very  real  disappointment,  and  was  silent  for  a 
while  ;  then  I  reminded  him  that  perhaps  we  had 
expected  too  much,  and  he  seemed  to  agree. 

There  are  many  ways  of  regarding  the  problem 
of  Russia,  each  one  leading  to  a  different  conclusion 
and  generally  a  faulty  one.  There  is  the  man  who 
considers  it  solely  from  the  point  of  view  of  present 
achievement  without  regard  to  the  special  difficul- 
ties which  have  had  to  be  overcome.  Such  a 
critic  is  not  reasonable  and  is  bound  to  be  con- 
temptuous, for  judging  the  thing  just  as  it  stands, 
and  chiefly  by  the  condition  of  the  people  who 
live  under  it,  Bolshevism  is  a  failure.  It  was 
bound  to  be  a  failure.    No  living  human  being 


The  Future  of  Russia  181 

faced  by  so  many  and  such  frightful  difficulties 
could  have  made  it  a  success.  Alien  invasion, 
internal  disorder,  counter-revolutionary  activities, 
scarcities  of  necessaries  of  all  sorts,  the  blockade 
of  Russia — all  these  things  made  it  quite  impossible 
for  the  Russian  Revolutionary  Government  with 
the  best  brains  and  the  finest  intentions  in  the 
world  to  carry  out  more  than  a  fraction  of  its 
programme  in  a  very  imperfect  manner.  The 
wonder  is  not  that  they  have  failed  to  establish 
Socialism,  but  that  they  have  successfully  accom- 
plished so  much  that  is  good. 

But  the  person  who  maintains  that  so  much 
has  been  done  and  done  admirably  that  the  other 
nations  should  immediately  copy  is  making  just 
as  big  a  mistake  in  the  other  direction.  Much 
might  advantageously  be  imitated  by  countries 
where  the  war  has  created  similar  problems. 
Russia  has  communised  her  housing  accommo- 
dation, so  that  now  everybody  has  shelter  and 
nobody  need  be  overcrowded.  This  is  all  to  the 
good.  From  such  things  the  overcrowded  towns 
and  cities  of  Europe  might  take  a  lesson  from 
Moscow  ;  but  unless  and  until  the  new  institu- 
tions of  Russia,  political,  industrial,  and  social, 
prove  themselves  to  be  of  more  social  value  than 
the  similar  institutions  of  other  lands,  the  men  are 
doing  a  disservice  to  their  country  who  advocate 
the'slavish. copying  of  Russia. 


182        Through  Bolshevik  Russia 

One  of  the  most  admirable  features  of  the 
Russian  Administration  so  far  has  been  its 
elasticity.  In  spite  of  the  extremists  and  because 
of  the  pressure  of  circumstances,  the  Russian 
Administration  has  shown  a  disposition  to  scrap 
its  failures  and  to  turn  from  one  experiment  to 
another  in  a  way  which  well  might  serve  as  an 
example  to  the  hide-bound  politicians  of  other 
lands. 

To  some  people  method  does  not  matter ; 
the  end  is  all  in  all.  Such  people  do  not  feel  the 
tyranny  which  is  exercised  over  the  people  to  be 
offensive,  nor  do  the  cruelties  excite  their  wrath. 
They  regard  these  things  as  temporary,  and  to 
them  the  end  always  justifies  the  means.  To 
them,  no  doubt,  it  appears  that  the  end  will  be 
achieved  by  such  means.  Nor  are  they  possessed 
by  any  fear  that  what  is  meant  to  be  temporary 
will  harden  into  a  system  and  become  permanent. 
With  eyes  on  some  splendid  future  they  would 
tolerate  the  worst  crimes  committed  under  the 
regime  of  the  Czar  if  done  in  the  name  and  for 
the  sake  of  Communism.  It  was  with  this  class 
of  supporter  of  Bolshevism  with  whom  I  was  in 
hourly  conflict. 

For  I  believe  very  sincerely  that  in  such  a 
matter  as  this  the  good  end  cannot  be  achieved 
by  vile  means,  and  that  the  extremists  who  use 
methods  of  force  and  violence  are  preparing  the 


The  Future  of  Russia  183 

ground  for  a  reaction  so  complete  that  it  would 
not  be  surprising  if  it  ended  with  a  new  king  on 
every  one  of  the  vacant  thrones  of  Europe. 

But  the  biggest  blunder  of  all  is  made  by  those 
people  who  start  with  the  assumption  that  Russia 
is  like  the  rest  of  Europe,  and  that  her  people  are 
the  same  as  ours.     It  is  the  most  fatal  blunder. 

Russia  is,  in  size,  not  a  country,  but  a  continent. 
It  contains  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  millions 
of  people  who  speak  fifty  different  languages. 
The  neighbouring  federated  states  take  their 
orders  from  Moscow  in  everything  except  local 
affairs,  and  the  so-called  independent  border 
states  will  one  day  discover  their  economic 
relationship  to  Russia  and  will  federate.  Such 
a  population,  with  such  resources  as  Russia 
possesses,  will  become  a  blessing  or  a  menace 
to  the  rest  of  the  world. 

The  Russian  people  are  the  most  illiterate  in 
Europe.  Their  civilisation  is  generations  behind 
Western  civilisation  and  is  of  a  different  sort. 
They  have  a  tradition  of  tyranny  that  sets  them  in 
a  different  category  from  the  people  of  Anglo- 
Saxondom.  They  are  a  silent,  passive  people  for 
the  most  part,  sentimental  and  idealistic.  They 
are  composed,  in  the  main,  of  peasants  whose 
chief  absorbing  interest  is  the  land  which  they 
love  with  intense  passion. 

Such  a  people  are  in  huge  contrast  to  the 


184        Through  Bolshevik  Russia 

teeming  industrial  populations  of  Great  Britain 
and  America.  In  these  countries  the  workers  have 
long  enjoyed  a  measure  of  political  and  social 
freedom  unknown  to  the  people  of  Russia.  They 
have  organised  themselves  politically  and  industri- 
ally on  a  big  scale,  and  the  standard  of  comfort 
they  have  been  able  to  exact  for  themselves  and 
their  families  from  the  employing  classes  and  from 
Parliament  is  very  considerably  higher  in  average 
than  the  best  the  Russian  workman  has  known. 

Most  of  the  organised  workers  of  Great  Britain 
(and  probably  of  America  also)  possess  a  little 
property,  if  it  is  only  the  dividend  they  draw 
from  the  Co-operative  Stores.  The  illiterate 
man  or  woman  is  practically  unknown  amongst 
them.  Their  children  enjoy  free  education.  Their 
cities  are  organised  and  comparatively  healthy. 
With  the  power  of  the  franchise  and  the  industrial 
power  of  their  trade  organisation  they  can  achieve 
any  reform  they  may  desire.  They  possess  a 
tradition  of  freedom  of  conscience,  of  speech, 
of  Press,  of  general  living  which  no  tyrant  in  office 
would  dare  long  and  without  good  cause  to  defy. 

They  are  moving  slowly  but  surely  towards  the 
achievement  of  that  economic  freedom  without 
which  they  cannot  hope  to  make  secure  the  rest. 
And  this  they  are  doing  without  the  bloodshed  and 
suffering  to  themselves  and  innocent  people  that 
violent  change  would  inevitably  produce.    Why, 


The  Future  of  Russia  185 

then,  should  they  copy  Russia,  whose  condition 
is  so  different  and  to  whom  it  might  have  appeared 
there  was  no  other  way  out  ?  I  feel  myself  so 
strongly  the  value  of  liberty  that  I  would  not 
jeopardise  it,  even  for  a  hypothetical  Kingdom 
of  Heaven  on  earth. 

I  do  not  think  the  British  workman  is  in  danger 
of  committing  this  folly.  He  sees  much  too  far 
for  that.  By  temperament  he  is  slow  but  sure. 
He  is  not  easy  to  move  along  unaccustomed 
paths,  but  he  jogs  steadily  along  the  old  high 
road.  He  is  often  charged  with  loving  comfort 
and  his  glass  of  beer  too  fondly  ;  but  the  ruling 
passion  as  I  have  seen  it  in  him  is  his  love  of  home 
and  wife  and  children.  He  will  not  readily  risk 
their  happiness  in  pursuit  of  a  chimerical  Garden 
of  Eden  which  might  rob  him  of  his  present 
content.  He  knows  there  are  even  greater  things 
in  the  world  than  bread  and  meat,  important 
though  these  things  be.  If  the  alternative  were 
placed  before  him  of  security  without  freedom,  or 
the  liberty  to  live  his  own  life  in  his  own  way  with 
as  much  risk  of  losing  his  livelihood  as  he  suffers 
under  the  present  system,  he  would  choose  liberty. 

And  he  would  do  this  because  instinctively 
he  would  feel  that  tyranny  was  an  evil,  and  that 
kindliness  and  toleration  are  worth  more  than 
the  most  perfect  system  in  the  world  without  these 
things.     And  he  would  be  right. 


186        Through  Bolshevik  Russia 

The  choice  is  not  an  inevitable  one.  The 
tyranny  in  Russia  is  due  to  the  domination  of  a 
minority,  to  the  seizing  of  power  by  violence, 
and  the  necessity  of  holding  it  by  force.  It  is 
not  inherent  in  the  Socialist  system  if  that  be 
achieved  gradually  and  in  harmony  with  the 
people's  desires  and  developing  intelligence. 

My  great  hope  for  the  future  of  Russia  lies  in 
the  possibilities  of  peace.  If  outside  aggression 
really  ceases  Russia  can  begin  at  once  to  amend 
herself.  If  the  blockade  be  really  broken  down, 
contact  with  the  world  will  soften  many  of  the 
acerbities  of  the  Communist  rulers  and  ameliorate 
the  condition  of  the  people  ;  but  it  must  be  a  real 
breakdown.  The  people  of  England  must  see 
that  they  are  not  deceived  by  misleading  replies  to 
Parliamentary  questions.  There  are  more  ways 
than  one  of  blockading  a  country.  Postal,  tele- 
graph and  commercial  relations  should  be  at  once 
established  ;  there  should  be  no  Customs  rules 
and  regulations  to  block  the  way  to  full  free  trade  ; 
the  people  of  the  two  countries  should  be  given 
liberty  freely  to  travel  from  one  land  to  the  other, 
and  the  Governments  of  Europe  should  recognise 
diplomatically  the  established  Government  of 
Russia,  and  treat  it  with  all  the  courtesies  usually 
accorded  by  one  nation  to  another  when  there  is 
peace  between  them. 

When  fear  is  removed  from  their  hearts,  the 


The  Future  of  Russia  187 

fountains  of  internal  criticism  will  once  more 
begin  to  play  upon  the  Russian  Government. 
Its  rough  edges  will  be  smoothed,  its  corners  rubbed 
off.  It  will  be  obliged  by  facts  and  circumstances 
to  move  still  further  along  the  path  of  honourable 
compromise  with  the  outside  world.  There  will 
be  much  more  personal  freedom,  less  hunger, 
more  happiness  ;  at  least,  so  I  hope  and  believe. 

For  the  alternative  is  too  terrible  to  contem- 
plate. The  alternative  is  either  a  renewal  of 
civil  strife  on  the  part  of  those  whom  the  con- 
tinuation of  an  extreme  policy  would  continue 
to  deprive  of  their  freedom  ;  or  the  development 
in  the  Communist  party  and  the  Russian  people 
of  a  kind  of  Imperialist  Communism,  which  would 
regard  it  as  a  duty  to  direct  the  country's  organisa- 
tion towards  the  establishment  of  world- Com- 
munism. 

But  even  if  this  latter  idea  should  ultimately 
dominate  it  will  not  be  made  manifest  at  once. 
Russia's  material  needs  are  too  great.  From  the 
very  beginning  I  have  maintained  that  nothing 
would  menace  the  worst  features  of  Bolshevism 
so  greatly  as  a  return  to  the  people  of  a  measure 
of  prosperity;  for  it  is  upon  masses  of  hungry 
and  unhappy  people  and  not  upon  the  prosperous 
and  well-fed  that  the  eloquent  tyrant  with  land 
and  plenty  to  offer  them  is  able  to  work  his  malig- 
nant will. 


irf8        Through  Bolshevik  Russia 

Let  us  intervene,  then,  in  Russian  affairs  with 
the  only  intervention  that  was  ever  justified — with 
food  and  clothing  and  medicines  ;  with  raw 
materials,  agricultural  machinery  and  sanitary 
supplies  ;  with  doctors  and  nurses  and  sanitary 
experts ;  with  railway  workers,  plumbers  9->  I 
engineers.  Let  us  do  all  in  our  power  to  help 
the  Russians  quickly  to  re-establish  their  economic 
life.  Then,  perhaps,  the  past  may  come  to  be 
forgotten  and  forgiven,  and  Russia  become  what 
she  was  destined  from  before  the  foundations  of 
the  world  to  become — a  great  leader  in  the 
humanitarian  movements  of  the  world. 

For  the  Russians  are  amongst  the  world's 
most  tender  dreamers.  Humanity  sorely  needs 
their  vision  in  this  hour.  At  a  time  when  the 
fatal  folly  and  weakness  of  a  few  has  flung  man- 
kind into  the  pit  of  materialism,  it  would  be  of 
incalculable  value  to  Europe  and  the  world  to 
restore  to  it  the  idealism  of  a  hundred  millions 
of  dreamers. 


n 


The  Mayflower  Press,  Plymouth,  England.     William  Brendon  &  Son,  Ltd. 
f.  40.  8.20. 


9U 


o. 


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